Love Finds A Way
by the ramblin rose
Summary: Caryl, AU. One thing they'd learned was that, even through the most seemingly impossible circumstances, love always finds a way. (Set in the "Love Child" Universe.) Rated for possible future content but subject to change/be too highly rated.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I couldn't help it. I had to write this. I know there's at least one more chapter coming, but I truly can't make any promises that's it. I felt compelled to write it and I simply had to give into it.**

 **This can be read as a continuation of sorts to "Love Child," or honestly it could probably simply be read on its own.**

 **It's a time piece and set roughly in the sixties (though I never nailed down an exact year).**

 **It's just for entertainment purposes.**

 **I own nothing from the Walking Dead.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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"Daryl?" Carol called out, putting the final touches on the packed lunches she'd offer to Daryl and to June while she waited for everyone to take their places for breakfast. "Daryl?"

"Comin'," Daryl called back.

Carol heard him coming. She heard, close behind him, the almost thunderous sound of June who had moved about almost in a full out sprint since the day that they'd first met her.

"What'cha need?" Daryl asked.

"Jack," Carol said. "He needs breakfast and I would really appreciate a little help while I get breakfast on the table."

Carol swallowed and closed her eyes, holding onto the counter a moment for support. She jumped when she felt Daryl's hand on her neck. He was a good bit stealthier than their daughter and she hadn't expected him to be that close to her that quickly.

"You soakin' wet," Daryl said.

Carol sucked in a breath and turned around to try to protest to Daryl that she was fine, but she wasn't able to follow through with her intention. The motion of turning her body was the last bit of help that she needed crossing over the line that she'd been focusing on not crossing all morning. Carol covered her mouth and Daryl's hands immediately went to her shoulders as he guided her quickly out of the kitchen and toward the bathroom.

"Move, June! Move! Get out the way a minute! Ya Mama's gonna be sick!" Daryl barked at their daughter.

Carol didn't know if she was going to make it to the bathroom or if she'd embarrass herself by being sick on the floor. With Daryl's help steering her, though, and clearing the path for her as she went, Carol was able to hold back the contents of her stomach until she hit her knees in the bathroom.

"Je-sus!" Daryl drawled out. Carol tried to respond to him, but she couldn't. Instead she just remained focused on her task at hand. "Let it out," Daryl urged. "Ain't no sense in tryin' to hold somethin' like that in."

Carol couldn't hold it in if she liked. She didn't try. Now that she was in front of the toilet, she was making good use of her time there.

She heard Daryl fumbling around, getting a cloth from the linen closet and she heard the tap water running.

"What's wrong with Mama?" June asked.

"Get outta here," Daryl said. "She's sick. That's all. She's just sick. Go check on Jack Jack. Can ya do that? Go check on Jack."

Carol felt the coolness of the damp rag on the back of her neck when Daryl placed it there and she reached a hand up and touched Daryl's hand.

"It's alright," Daryl said. "It's all good."

"Jack hasn't had breakfast," Carol said. "You know how he is about breakfast."

"He'll live another couple minutes," Daryl said with a laugh.

"You're going to be late," Carol said.

"Reckon I'll live through that, too," Daryl said. "And so will June before you start getting any ideas about worrying about her."

Carol heard the bathroom door creak as Daryl closed it. He took the rag back and soaked it again in the tap water. Carol sighed when she felt it touch the back of her neck again. She wasn't ready, yet, to give up her spot. She needed a little more time on the floor in front of the toilet to feel confident enough to get up and get on with the ten million tasks awaiting her.

"You eat somethin' bad or what?" Daryl asked.

"No," Carol said. "I haven't eaten anything."

"Could be the problem," Daryl said.

It wasn't the problem and Carol was sure of that.

"Got too hot," Carol said. "I was cooking and I was wearing that heavy housecoat and it just got too hot. As soon as I got warm I started to feel sick and I took it off, but it was too late."

"You'll go to see Doctor James today," Daryl said.

Carol laughed to herself.

"With what time, Daryl?" Carol asked. She reached around and pulled the rag from her neck. She used it to wipe her face and she flushed the toilet before she sat back on the floor and looked at the worried face of her husband.

He worried about her constantly. He genuinely worried about her because he cared for in a way that she wasn't sure most men cared for their wives. But that was only one of the reasons that she loved him the way that she did.

She offered him a soft smile to soothe over a little of the concern.

"I just got too hot, Daryl," Carol said. "I haven't eaten and I got overheated. I'm practically dizzy with everything that's going on right now. In fact, I _am_ dizzy with it. I've got eight dresses to finish this week and..."

Remembering that her day wasn't long and leisurely enough to simply sit on the floor, Carol started up from her position. Daryl moved and pushed her back down though.

"Just stay down a minute," Daryl said. "You been dizzy an' it ain't had a thing to do with work."

"It's had everything to do with work," Carol said. "And I can't spend the whole day on the floor, Daryl. Jack hasn't had breakfast and June hasn't either and she's got to get to school."

"And I gotta get to work an' you gotta mend dresses and the Pope's gotta be Catholic," Daryl said. "But ain't none a' that gonna come to an end if you just sit down a minute and get your head about you."

Carol swallowed.

"I'm fine," she said. "I feel perfectly fine now."

It wasn't true, but it was true enough. She had things to do. She couldn't lounge around in the bathroom too much longer. She had to convince Daryl that she was fine or none of them would ever get on with their day.

"You might be fine," Daryl said. "But you been havin' spells an' you gonna go and see Doctor James today. I'll make you the appointment myself."

"I don't have time," Carol insisted.

"You don't got time not to," Daryl said. "You have some kinda dizzy spell when I'm not here—say you do. You fall an' hit'cha head. Jack's here and there ain't no tellin' how long he's wanderin' around the house alone until somebody figures out there's something wrong. Maybe I even make it home 'fore anybody knows." He shook his head at her. "You've been feeling poor and I want you to go and see the doctor. I won't take no for an answer on this."

Carol groaned at him.

"I know what it is, Daryl," Carol said. "I know what's wrong with me. I've known for at least two weeks. Maybe three. I don't need to go to a doctor to have him—just to have him tell me what I already know."

Daryl crossed his arms. The way he was looking at her told her everything she needed to know. He would wait. He would stay in the bathroom with her all day if he had to. But he wasn't going to be satisfied until he had some kind of answer about what was wrong with her.

"It's the change, Daryl," Carol said.

"You're not old enough," Daryl said.

Carol laughed to herself.

"I'm plenty old enough," Carol said. "I overheard Mary Jane talking about it at church with Susan Applegate and she said her mother went through the change before she was forty."

Daryl shook his head. That was the only response he gave. He simply stood there, arms crossed across his chest, and shook his head.

"I haven't— _been_ regular," Carol said. "I'm hot all the time. I'm—tired and dizzy. I'm—I'm gaining weight. I'm just shaky, Daryl. Everything she was saying. It's all there. I know what it is. It's just—my body is finally giving up. It's the end of my youth. The end of my... _womanhood._ "

Daryl stared at her, brow furrowed, and chewed at his lip.

"I'd expect that kind of nonsense from Mary Jane," Daryl said. "Hell—even from Andrea or Merle. But you know better'n that, Carol. Whether or not you have your monthlies don't make you a woman any more than not birthing June or Jack makes you less their mother."

"It makes me old," Carol said.

"You're thirty six," Daryl said matter-of-factly. "And a whole year and three months younger than me."

"It's not the same for you," Carol said. "You can go on forever—fathering children and doing everything else that you want to do. You're a man. You don't change the way that women change."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"I guess I know enough about how men change," Daryl said. "Being that I am one and a nurse besides. It's not like you're going to turn into somethin' entirely different, Carol. You're not gonna just—up and become a unicorn or something like that."

Carol laughed to herself.

"That might be a preferable change," Carol said. "At least June would like the change."

"Besides, what's it really change?" Daryl asked.

"I'll start gaining weight," Carol said. "I'll start—looking like the little old ladies at church."

"You gonna start rinsin' your hair blue?" Daryl asked.

"It's already almost gray," Carol said, covering her face with her hand. Her hair had started to change early on and she'd wanted to correct it and maybe dye it to the bold auburn color that it once had been, but Daryl had insisted that he wanted her to let it be what it was—he liked it that way.

"Beautiful," Daryl said. "Suits you good."

"Everything about me is going to change," Carol said.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"I think you're being a touch dramatic about this, Carol," Daryl said. "If you wanna talk about this calmly—then we can sit down and we can talk about it calmly after dinner tonight, but—I just don't have time this mornin' to deal with you bein' dramatic and I hear Jack threatenin' to get dramatic himself if somebody don't free him from his chair or get him his breakfast."

"I'm not being dramatic," Carol said. "I don't think you realize how much is going to change. I mean—that's why it's called the change, Daryl. Things _change_."

Daryl sighed.

"Things change," Daryl said. "But that's true, Carol. It's just true. I change and you change and it don't mean a thing. You and me? That don't change. OK? I've loved you through—everything you've been before and everything you are now. And you been lovin' me the same way. That don't change. And if you change?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll love you through that too." He laughed to himself. "Even if you were to become a unicorn? I'd figure out how to handle that too."

He offered his hand out to Carol.

"You through there?" He asked when she hesitated to take it.

Carol thought about it. Her stomach wasn't entirely settled, but it was better than it had been and outside chaos was beginning to erupt. Jack was starting to lose his temper and June was calling out to both of them that her brother was hungry, just in case they couldn't tell that for themselves.

Daryl helped Carol to her feet.

"I'm just going to—freshen up? Brush my teeth?" Carol said.

Daryl nodded.

"And I'm just gonna get the kids settled at the table with some food. I'll call Doctor James. I know him well enough to know he'll get you in today at my request."

"Daryl," Carol started to protest.

Daryl turned around and shook his head at her. Carol knew that look well enough. Daryl was, by far, the most reasonable of all the men that she knew. He was the most open-minded man she'd ever met. He was kind and spoiled her more than he really should. He tried to never even speak harsh words to her, even when he was angry.

But he was still the king of his castle and there were some things he simply wasn't going to argue about.

This was one of those things.

Carol nodded her head.

"Just—something this morning," Carol said. "I've really got to get those dresses ready. I've got ladies coming this afternoon to pick them up."

"This morning it is," Daryl said. "Brush your teeth. Freshen up. I'll take the breakfast to the table."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here we are. I told you that there would at least be a second part.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl stood by the car smoking what was likely his third cigarette.

Josephine Greene had graciously offered to sit with Jack while Daryl took Carol to the doctor. Daryl called in for the day to take a personal day of leave from work. Even though he was in the parking lot outside the very hospital that he worked in now, he wasn't on duty. He could have left Carol to go to her own appointment, but he thought it better if he went with her, even if he was simply offering his support from outside the building.

Carol had been feeling generally unwell for a while now and it worried Daryl. He had no real feel for what might be the problem since, in the name of not making him worry, she tried to hide her symptoms from him and dodged his questions about her health. He knew her well enough to know when she was trying to hide something from him and she didn't realize that, in her quest to keep him from worrying, she really made him worry more.

Daryl hoped that in the worst case scenario, it was a virus. He was prepared for it to be the change, if Carol was correct in her own diagnosis. He was praying that it wasn't something more serious.

The very thought of it made his stomach churn. They had three children and, though Sophia was a woman now, she still needed her mother. June was only eight. Jack was heading toward his second birthday. Daryl and Carol had spent so few years together—especially when Daryl was counting on them having at least another fifty more to spend together—and the thought that it could be something more serious? It was more than Daryl was prepared for.

But he worried, almost daily since she'd started feeling unwell, that it could be some side-effect or another of the years of poor treatment that she'd suffered before he'd found her.

Whatever it was, a virus or something more, they'd get through it. That was Daryl's mantra that he repeated to himself as he paced the ground around his car.

And Dr. James would help them.

The man was an older gentleman who'd been practicing medicine for a long time. He was a living Swiss-army knife of medicine. He could practically treat everything from common colds to the plague. He'd had a small office uptown, but he'd moved to practice out of the brand new hospital when they'd finished building it.

Daryl trusted the man with his children and his wife, so there was no greater show of confidence that Daryl had for a man of medicine.

When Daryl saw Carol coming out of the building, he dropped his cigarette and snubbed it out on the ground beneath his shoe.

She was practically toddling toward him with all the grace that Jack used at times, and once he saw her ankle roll to the side and she dramatically corrected herself before she regained her composure and continued toward him. Carol was well-accustomed to walking in the heels that she was wearing, but it was immediately clear to Daryl that today she was having a hard time managing her shoes—or, if it wasn't her shoes, she was having a hard time managing her feet.

Daryl walked quickly toward Carol and reached his arms out to her as he got closer to her, catching her around the waist with his hands to balance her. She was pale except for a slight blushing of pink at her cheeks. Her eyes were damp.

And Daryl's pulse picked up because he didn't know how to interpret any of it.

"You unsteady," Daryl said. "We'll get you home an' you'll have a little bit of a lie down. Them dresses'll keep. Don't nobody need nothin' right away."

"Daryl, I don't know what to say," Carol stammered out.

If Daryl wasn't entirely sure what the difference between anxiety and a heart attack was, he'd have sworn he was about to have to walk himself into the hospital right then and there to have them try to save his life from his heart seizing up.

He swallowed.

"What is it?" Daryl asked. "What'd they say? It don't matter—it don't matter what it is, Carol."

"But it does," Carol said. "It does matter. And—I'd want to tell you this properly. As I should. But—this isn't the place where I should tell you and it isn't the way." She shook her head at him and Daryl thought she might cry.

Afraid she might still be wobbling somewhat on her feet, and feeling that they'd both do much better in the privacy of their own vehicle, Daryl changed his position and hoisted Carol up into his arms quickly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and protested the movement with a loud noise that echoed around them.

"I got'cha," Daryl assured her. "Just—takin' you to the car. We'll go home, Carol. We'll just—sit and we'll talk about whatever it is. Have a cup of coffee. There ain't much we can't figure out over a good cup of coffee."

Daryl rambled on about the comforts of their home mostly to make himself feel better. Their home was comfortable. It was his favorite place to be and he knew, very well, that it was Carol that had made it that way. He'd lived there without her before, and it was a much nicer place with her there. It was home with her there.

And Daryl would rather be home, at that moment, than just about anywhere else.

"Get the door for me, would'ja?" Daryl said, breaking his speech about the comforts of home and the nice things they'd share once they got there, only when he'd reached Carol's side of the car. She did open the door and Daryl pushed it the rest of the way open before he instructed her to watch her head and eased her into her seat in the car. He closed the door and stopped behind the vehicle to catch his breath so that Carol would be less likely to notice that he was keyed up if she hadn't noticed already.

Finally, feeling a little more in control of himself and only a little shaky, Daryl walked around and got in the car himself, closing the door behind him. He lit a cigarette and sat there, staring out the windshield for a moment while Carol sat in silence next to him with her hands in her lap.

"It—uh—it somethin' you oughta tell me 'fore we get home?" Daryl asked.

"I suppose that it'll keep, Daryl," Carol said. "If you—want it to. It's waited this long."

Daryl nodded his head. Her words made him feel a little bit better. If it was something that would keep, at least it couldn't be too serious. Unless she only meant that it would keep until they got home.

"Maybe you just—better go ahead an' tell me," Daryl said. "Maybe that would be better. If you was to just—go ahead and tell me right now."

"Do you want me to tell you?" Carol asked. Daryl thought he heard some laughter escape her and he jerked his head in her direction. The corners of her mouth were barely twitching upward. She was looking at him out the side of her eye.

Sitting in the car, calm and quiet and in their own little private space, Carol seemed calmer than she had. She seemed a little more put together than when she'd first been tottering toward Daryl on the short trip from the building.

Her half-smile gave Daryl some hope.

Daryl licked his lips and took a drag off his cigarette. He exhaled the smoke slowly and watched Carol for any change of expression. She remained just the same as she had been.

"I think it'd be best," Daryl said. "Just to clear the air. So it ain't so thick in here. So we can just breathe. Is it a virus? 'Cause I told you two weeks ago I thought you was coming down with something and you didn't listen to me..."

Carol shook her head.

"It isn't a virus, Daryl," Carol said.

"Oh," Daryl said. He nodded his head. "The change?" He asked. He wasn't sure how Carol was going to react to the change—sometimes she could still be a touch delicate about things like that. But as soon as he got her over worrying about it, he was sure that she'd settle right on into things and it wouldn't bother him at all, not like she thought it would.

Carol surprised him, though, by shaking her head.

"No," she said. "But—it is a change."

Daryl's stomach twisted tight enough that for a moment he thought he might part company with his breakfast. He might very well be the next one of them to spend some time studying their toilet up close and personal.

"You gonna kill me," Daryl informed her. "If you don't just up an' out with it, Carol? You absolutely gonna kill me."

Carol covered her face with her hands just after her whole face flooded pink. She shook her head.

"I don't even know—Daryl. I hardly know if I even believe it enough to say it," Carol said.

"Out with it, then!" Daryl barked. "Hell—I could see you was in shock a mile away, Carol. We'll digest it ourselves. Chew on it until we get home and—then discuss it over a cup of coffee. Like I said. Out with it. What is it?"

"It's a baby!" Carol blurted. She dropped her hands, then, to her lap again. "It's a baby!"

Daryl didn't think he could've felt more surprised if someone had hit him the face with a bucket of ice water.

"A baby?" Daryl asked. "What—what do you mean, it's a baby?"

"I think I mean that in the only way I know to mean it," Carol responded. "It's a baby, Daryl. I'm—I'm expecting."

Daryl swallowed.

"A baby," he said. Carol nodded. "You're—expecting?" Carol nodded again. "A baby?"

Carol laughed. Her laugh jolted through Daryl. It was a wonderful sound. It was light and happy and entirely unlike what he'd prepared himself for and it jolted him back into himself. Daryl laughed too.

"It's been like—fourteen years," Daryl said.

"Yeah," Carol said. "It has. It's been—it's been fourteen years."

"Fourteen years and we been—but we weren't even tryin' no more," Daryl said. "Weren't even worried about it. Not thinking about it. I mean—when was the last time we even...talked about it?"

"Jack's first birthday," Carol said. "The night of his first birthday. That was the last time we talked about it."

"To say we were givin' up," Daryl said.

"To say you were giving up," Carol said.

"You give up too," Daryl said. "Long before me if we're bein' honest."

"I don't think I ever gave up," Carol said. "There's a difference in coming to terms with the fact that we would never have a child—not a biological child—and giving up. I never gave up."

Daryl's hands were shaking and he couldn't hide it. He snubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray so that at least the shaking cigarette wasn't giving away the involuntary tremors.

"They sure?" Daryl asked.

"Certain," Carol assured him.

Daryl swallowed and nodded his head.

"How you feelin'?" Daryl asked. "It weren't—weren't nothin' else?"

"Not that they said," Carol said. "I'm—I don't know exactly how I feel."

"Shocked?" Daryl asked. Carol hummed in agreement. "Happy?" Daryl ventured.

Carol's smile told him all he needed to know about that.

For all these years they had waited for a child to come into the world between them. For so long they'd fought so hard to have it come to pass, but it had never come to pass. They'd adopted two beautiful children, but still they'd hoped that one day they might have one between them that was biologically their own. It just hadn't seemed to be in the cards, though. Not for them. Only recently they'd begun discussing whether or not they were ready to welcome another child into their home that needed a family, but Daryl had never imagined that the child they'd be welcoming could be born to them.

Daryl wasn't under any impression that Carol wouldn't have her ups and downs with this—and that was mostly because he was almost always prepared for any storm that might appear suddenly and unexpectedly with Carol—but he was sure that, ultimately, she'd be happy.

Daryl could already feel the warm feeling of happiness in his chest that was slowly taking the place of the shock that had first taken up residence there.

"Are you surprised, Daryl?" Carol asked.

"Floored," Daryl responded.

"Are you happy?" Carol asked.

Daryl smiled and reached a hand over to pat her leg. She covered his hand with her own.

"Don't think I could be happier," Daryl said. "Was a thousand times better than what I was expecting, I'll tell you that. But now? We gotta head on home. You wanna do that? Head on home? Have some lunch with Jack? Maybe—make that pot of coffee and let...let Miss Josephine be the first person we try our news out on?"

"I don't think—Daryl I don't know how we're going to tell anyone," Carol said. "Not after all these years."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"That's the worst thing you're concerned about right now?" Daryl asked.

Carol was quiet for a second.

"Yes," she said. "I believe it might be. Was I supposed to be concerned about something else?"

Daryl laughed and shook his head. He patted her leg.

"No," he said. "But—don't you worry about it. We'll figure out a way. We always do."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Here we are.**

 **Several people expressed their interest in me continuing this and I love the universe, so here goes.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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"You need me to carry you?" Daryl asked. "You steady on your feet?"

"I don't think it affects my ability to walk, Daryl," Carol teased. She did let Daryl take her hand and help her out of the car, but she was accustomed to the fact that he was going to do that at almost every opportunity he was given.

"You didn't see you back at the hospital," Daryl said. "Newborn calves got a better grasp on usin' their legs than you did."

Carol closed the car door, but she didn't immediately start toward the house. Daryl tugged at her arm, but when she tugged back, he stood there and waited. She needed a moment. Maybe she needed the air. Maybe she just needed a moment to collect herself. Whatever it was, she could have it. To show that it didn't bother him in the slightest, Daryl let go of Carol's arm to light a cigarette for himself and she leaned against the car.

"I couldn't believe it, Daryl," Carol said. "I still—can't believe it."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"I'll be honest with you," he said, "I'm feeling a bit lightheaded myself. It surely wasn't what I was expecting. We were talking about adopting again. We said—right about when Jack turned two. It felt like the right time. But I didn't expect this was how it was all gonna happen."

Carol wiped at her eyes and Daryl caught her hand with the one that he wasn't using to hold the cigarette. He shook his head at her.

"Unless there's happy behind them tears, then I don't think I like seein' 'em," Daryl said.

"I don't even know why I'm crying," Carol admitted. "I don't think it's—I'm not feeling sad or...Daryl I don't even know if I'm feeling very happy. I'm just..." She shook her head again.

"Have a lot of feelings. Feeling overwhelmed," Daryl offered. "I was figuring it up in the car. Now—this doesn't get it down to the day, but if you think that we've been talking about this for as long as we have? Carol that's fourteen years at twelve months a year. And for a while there? I almost hated the passing of every one of those months because I knew what was going to happen if your monthly came on you. And if you count all them months? It was 168 months of waitin' for something that just never came."

Carol looked like she might just go ahead and give into a complete flood of tears, but she was choking it back with everything in her. She nodded her head at Daryl and tried to smile despite the fact that she was choking on everything she was swallowing down.

"And now it's happened and I wasn't expecting it," Carol said. She shook her head. "I stopped expecting it and now it's like..."

Daryl laughed and Carol raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"And now you're expecting," Daryl said. "And—Jack is expecting us. And Miss Josephine is expecting us. So let's go inside and let them know that everything's good here. OK?"

Carol nodded at him.

"But you're happy?" Carol asked.

"I told you three times that I am," Daryl said. She frowned at him just when her frown had started to relax a little. "An' I'ma tell you again," Daryl added quickly. "I'm happy. Couldn't be prouder if I tried. Come on."

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"We still got some of that good pound cake?" Daryl asked.

Carol got up from the table. Daryl hadn't actually meant for her to serve it, but she was already on her way to do so. In her absence, Daryl took the coffee pot and filled the cups up that she'd put on the table. He quickly fixed his coffee the way he liked it and prepared Carol's for her. Then he slid the sugar closer to the elderly woman's seat in case she wanted it and moved the porcelain cow in her direction.

When Carol returned to the table, she was carrying two plates of the cake. She left and quickly returned with a third.

"This is good cake," Daryl said, tasting his piece. "Carol made it last night and I was almost sure I finished the whole thing even after I was stuffed from dinner."

"It's a little dry," Carol offered.

"Looks perfectly moist to me, dear," Josephine responded, examining the cake on its plate. "So Dr. James said you were well? You're being awfully standoffish about the whole thing."

Carol nodded her head. She was a little red in the cheeks and Daryl wondered if she was about to have one of the spells of not feeling well like she'd had that morning. She didn't excuse herself from the table, though, and instead she went the opposite direction and put a rather large forkful of cake into her mouth, rendering her mute for at least a moment.

"He said she was well," Daryl offered, deciding that maybe it was his place to speak since Carol was clearly not planning on doing so any time soon and, even though Josephine had agreed to coffee with them, she'd probably like the chance to get home in time to prepare her evening meal. "We did get a bit of a surprise, though. It appears that we'll be welcoming another member of our household before too long."

Josephine looked at Daryl without a hint of recognition on her features. Maybe it hadn't sunk in because it seemed so far outside the realm of the likelihood of events that Carol might be expecting their first biological child together. Maybe she was simply accustomed, after their announcement that they'd be bringing home Jack, to the fact that they occasionally added new members to their family. No matter the reason, there wasn't a hint of surprise or even curiosity on the old woman's face. She looked a little more surprised by the flavor of the cake than she did by Daryl's words, and a quick glance in Carol's direction told Daryl that she was watching to see what the old woman's reaction might be.

Daryl cleared his throat.

"We're—we're expecting," Daryl offered.

"Expecting what, dear?" Josephine asked.

Daryl laughed to himself. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't give her the first answer that came to mind—an answer fit only for his brother's mouth.

Daryl tapped his fork on the edge of his plate, his nerves kicking up a little. He imagined the whole thing going differently and it unnerved him a little when things didn't quite go as planned. He stopped the tapping when Carol looked at him, owl-eyed, and finally spoke.

"Daryl—please? Jack's napping," Carol said.

Daryl put his fork down.

"We're expecting what I imagine it's right for a good number of married couples to expect, Miss Josephine," Daryl said. "A baby. We're expecting a baby."

Carol immediately gained interest in her cake again at the exact moment that the old woman lost interest in hers. Josephine coughed, like she might have choked on a crumb or two of the cake, and quickly washed it down with the coffee, a shocked sound expressed that the liquid was hotter than she'd anticipated.

"You're expecting a baby?" She asked, directing her question to Carol.

It was no secret that the one thing Carol had desperately wanted for years had been a baby. Everyone knew that she was desperate to have one. Bringing Sophia home had helped to quell her desires a little, making her a mother again, but they'd never fully taken away her desire to have a baby whose life she could recall from its arrival into the world. Adopting June had helped a little more, and bringing Jack home when he was just two days shy of being one month old had done a good bit more to ease Carol's aching over a child, but it had never fully removed her desire.

Carol was naturally a mother and motherhood was something she excelled at. She was a wonderful mother. Daryl knew that their hearts and their home were able to accommodate several more children, if the county saw fit to give them the chance to raise them, but he was also happy for Carol that God had finally seen fit to give them at least one chance to have one born between them.

Carol blushed pink and nodded her head at the old woman's question. She washed down her own mouthful of cake with her coffee and wiped her mouth.

"It would seem so," Carol said. She smiled. "To be honest? I hardly believe it myself at the moment. It's a little new to me."

"Congratulations!" Josephine declared. Carol beamed at the congratulations. Daryl smiled to himself just looking at her. The one word changed her entire countenance for the moment. "Oh my! That's wonderful!"

"It is," Daryl agreed. "It is, indeed."

"When are we to expect the blessed event?" Josephine asked, her interest now completely captured.

Daryl looked to Carol. He'd forgotten to ask her that question. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders gently.

"November?" She said.

"Are you asking or telling, dear?" Josephine asked.

Carol laughed quietly.

"Telling," Carol said. "At least that's what I was told. November."

"We'll have a lot to be thankful for," Daryl said.

"It's April now," Josephine said. Daryl and Carol both turned their attention to her. She sat back in her chair, clearly not prepared to have so much focus on her at once. She opened her mouth like she'd speak again, but nothing came out for a moment. "I only meant to say that—it's April. It's too early to talk about it, Carol. It's really not good to talk about it. You shouldn't tell everyone just yet. Wait a little longer."

"Don't talk about it?" Daryl asked.

"Things like this can be delicate," Josephine offered. "It's really best to wait a bit longer. I won't tell anyone."

Daryl glanced at Carol. All the excitement that the simple "congratulations" had brought was pretty much a big pile of broken bits and pieces around her feet at the moment. She got up, quickly, and excused herself from the table.

"I think I hear Jack," she said. "I'm just going to check on him."

Daryl knew that she didn't hear Jack. He didn't hear Jack. Josephine Greene knew, as well, that she didn't hear Jack.

The old woman looked at Daryl and frowned. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"It appears that I've said something unwelcome," Josephine said. "I didn't mean to upset her. I only meant that—babies are delicate creatures. Especially so early. You understand?"

Daryl nodded his head at her.

"I understand," Daryl said. He tapped his finger on the table and stared at his uneaten piece of cake. Suddenly he wasn't nearly as in the mood for it as he had been. "She understands that too, but—with all due respect? I don't think she needs to hear about it too much. You'll understand that, I'm sure."

"I apologize if I've said something I shouldn't have," Josephine said.

Daryl shook his head at her.

"Weren't nothin' somebody else wasn't gonna say, was it?" Daryl said.

The old woman nodded her head and stood up.

"I think I should probably go," she offered.

"Don't want you to feel like you gotta run off," Daryl said. "We appreciate you watchin' Jack."

"He's an angel," Josephine said. "I should really thank you for letting me watch him. Will you tell Carol? That I'm sorry?"

Daryl nodded his head.

He stood up to see the woman out. He walked her to the door and waited for her to get her purse. Then he followed her outside.

"I'm really sorry," she repeated. "I didn't mean to upset her."

"It's nothing I can't handle," Daryl assured her, even though he always maintained some doubts about his abilities to handle things. He thought he did well with Carol, and he though he did better with every passing year, especially as she seemed to simply mellow out and become accustomed to the ups and downs in their life together, but he still worried that one day he'd come up against something he just wasn't prepared to handle.

Daryl thanked the old woman for her help again, assured her once more that nobody was angry about what she'd said, and accepted her soft congratulations for their good news.

Then he watched her get in her car and slowly back it out of the driveway—the twenty minute drive to her house probably taking her about forty-five minutes in total—while he smoked a cigarette and prepared for himself some of the things that he might say to his wife when he got back inside.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Here we go.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl found Carol sitting in the chair in Jack's room rocking the little boy. It was clear that he'd just woken up and wasn't quite ready to face the world again. Jack was very affectionate and almost always in the mood to be snuggled, but he was even more in the mood to be snuggled when he was just waking.

Jack was red-faced, his thumb in his mouth, snuggled as close to Carol as their bodies allowed. Daryl smiled to himself.

"Did you wake him?" Daryl asked.

"He was wet," Carol said. "He's clean now."

She moved her face to rub her cheek against the boy's face and then she kissed him. He was satisfied with the kiss, contentedly staring at nothing. He hummed at her as a sign of his pleasure over the tender touch.

"You want to hold him?" Carol asked. "Before he really wakes up?"

"No," Daryl said. "That boy loves you more than anything in the world. I wouldn't take it from him. Those just-waking-up minutes are his favorite things."

Carol smiled to herself.

"And breakfast is his favorite thing," Carol said. "And his blanket is his favorite thing."

"And eatin' leaves and grass in the yard is his favorite thing," Daryl teased. "But that right there? That's when he's really the happiest. You can see it."

"He likes to snuggle with you," Carol said. "You know that."

"He does," Daryl said. "But—I'm not Mama an' he don't let me forget that."

Carol smiled.

"But June would rather snuggle with you," Carol said.

"Unless she's sick," Daryl ceded. "If she's sick, there ain't nobody but Mama can't make it feel better. And Soph? She loved snugglin' with you. Still does whenever she's home."

"You're not supposed to know about that," Carol said, a hint of warning to her tone.

"I don't know about it," Daryl said. "Don't know a thing about it. At least not so Soph knows."

"I love them, Daryl," Carol said. "All of them. I love—each of them so much that it feels like I can think of them individually and I love each one of them with my whole heart. Just like—just like I love you. But then, I don't know if it's possible to love so many people with your whole heart."

Daryl smiled.

"I think it is," Daryl said. "I think—I love you that way. And I love them that way. Maybe—it's a lil' different, but it's love just the same." He waited a moment, considering his words. Finally, he felt prepared to speak again. "You—got room for one more, don't you?"

Carol looked at him. Then she dropped her eyes and brushed her face against Jack's once more.

"I've got room for so many more," Carol said. "That's what it feels like."

"We'll work on that," Daryl said. "One at a time." He cleared his throat. "Miss Josephine—she ain't meant that like it come out, ya know?"

"She was right," Carol said. "It isn't proper to tell anyone. It could just be something temporary. Something that—doesn't last. But it feels cruel, Daryl."

"What does?" Daryl asked.

Carol rocked the chair she was sitting in with her foot and continued to stare at the nothing that seemed to be holding her attention pretty well.

"To have it now just for it to be taken away," Carol said.

Daryl's stomach twisted.

To have a child—to love a child, no matter how briefly—just for it to be taken away. Maybe there was no greater cruelty to be done to a mother. And Carol had already suffered it once even if she barely remembered it outside of her subconscious mind.

Daryl's instinct—what burned down deep in his gut—was to promise Carol that wouldn't be the case with the child that she'd just discovered she was carrying. He wanted to promise her that the child was hers for now and for always. But he didn't have that power. Just like he hadn't been able to give her a child, however much she'd wanted it, for all those years, he didn't have the power to promise her that it wouldn't be taken away. At least, he had no power over what God might do.

Daryl licked his lips.

"You gonna be so careful, Carol," Daryl said. "I'm gonna take care of you and you're gonna take care of yourself and—you're gonna be so careful. Keep off your feet some. Relax. Take it easy. You gonna eat good. Them dresses? You said you got eight or nine? You finish them, but I don't want you takin' no more orders. Maybe one or two or some for you if you want somethin' to occupy your mind. Nothin' that's going to make you feel overwhelmed. I can't tell you that the baby won't go anywhere, but I can tell you that we're gonna do everything we gotta do to keep it right where it is until it's time for it to come into the world."

Carol looked at him. She held his eyes, but she didn't say anything. Sophia had the same intense stare as her mother sometimes and Daryl had learned that it was something both of them did—maybe without even realizing it—when they weren't sure he was telling the truth. He'd learned, too, that the quickest way to make them believe him was just to hold their eyes for however long they seemed to need.

When Carol seemed to get her fill, she dropped her eyes again. Jack was beginning to stir. He was starting to feel awake. He was starting to move away from his desire for snuggles and to move toward his desire for play. Carol leaned forward and lowered him to the floor so that he could take control of his world once more.

In response, the boy toddled away from her and over to the corner of his room where the large and brightly colored blocks that he dragged all around the house were waiting for him.

In the chair, Carol smoothed out the dress she was wearing.

"I wish it was as fast as it was with June and Jack," Carol said. "We just—knew they were coming and then we went and picked them up."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"But that ain't how it works," Daryl said. "Not this time. It's a whole different thing this time. This time? Baby's gotta grow. Gotta get big and strong and then we get it."

"Andrea never seemed to worry," Carol said.

Andrea had given Merle eight boys that were practically stair steps. After the eighth child had been born, Dr. James—who had delivered the last two boys—had declared that there was some kind of problem that Andrea was suffering from. Daryl recalled the problem being described as something like a thinning uterus. He'd stated that the only thing to be done for Andrea was to perform the surgery that would keep her from falling pregnant again and she'd almost immediately gone in and undergone the procedure.

Whether there was ever an emergency, or whether the old doctor had simply taken pity on a woman who had felt overwhelmed and disheartened by her status as a practical brood sow, Daryl would never actually know. If the truth was that he was simply trying to help Andrea, or even that she'd requested such a surgery behind Merle's back, was to ever come out, there could be repercussions for the doctor because Merle was just the kind of man to rally against such a move on the part of either the doctor or his wife.

What had really happened didn't matter either way. Andrea had needed the relief whether or not her uterus had been any different after her eighth delivery than it had been after her first. Daryl was glad to think that maybe the doctor had taken pity on her. Merle, for his part, still somewhat argued against the surgery. He still believed that something more could've been done. After all, he was proud to have produced eight sons and it had never caused him even the slightest bit of suffering.

"Andrea never worried because she'da likely counted her blessings if there hadn't been no more babies," Daryl said.

"Daryl!" Carol said sharply.

"It ain't kind," Daryl admitted. "But it's true."

"All her babies were healthy," Carol said.

"And all yours is too," Daryl offered.

"All her pregnancies were easy," Carol said. "Everyone talked about how easy her pregnancies were."

"And yours might be too," Daryl said. "Carol—just 'cause Miss Josephine reminded you about some things that could happen? That don't mean they're destined to happen. Just—she's just sayin' they might. Same for you as anybody else. Same for Andrea. She had just as good a chance as anybody else at not havin' one of them boys come after she found out she was expecting. It don't mean it's going to come to pass just because it could. It's the same as me tellin' you to be careful when you're drivin' to the market. You could get in a wreck, Carol. You could get hurt. But just because you could, it doesn't mean it's going to come to pass. And it doesn't mean you stop goin' to the market, neither."

"When she said congratulations?" Carol said. "Daryl—it sounded so beautiful. I couldn't help but think it was for me. Finally—it was for me. I've said it a million times to a million different people. People stop me in church or at the market. They tell me they're expecting—their first or their fifth child or...whichever it might be. And I've said every time...I've said congratulations. Nobody ever said congratulations to me, you know? Not the same way. And all of a sudden I felt like—that one's for me. It's finally for me."

"I saw your face light up," Daryl said. "And I could tell that it just about break your heart when she said what she said, but she didn't mean to hurt your feelings. And she didn't mean to break your heart. She didn't mean to give it just to take it away. The congratulations was still there underneath the saying you should wait. She never meant to take it away from you."

"I know she didn't," Carol said. "She was only telling me the truth. And it's truth I needed to hear. I was being foolish getting giddy so quickly."

Daryl swallowed and shook his head. He straightened up from where he'd been leaning against the doorway.

"You ain't bein' foolish," Daryl said. "You got a right. And you get just as giddy as you please. Carol—she ain't gonna be the only one that tells you congratulations. And—not everybody that tells you congratulations is gonna seem like they take it back like that the minute they give it to you. You gonna get your chance. When you go to church? You tell everybody—soak up every one of them congratulations you give out as they get returned back to you. When you go to the market. Everywhere you go. Carol—you tell everybody you've got a mind to tell. And you don't worry about it. There's plenty more congratulations comin' your way."

Carol nodded her acceptance of Daryl's words. She leaned forward, accepting the block that Jack brought her and then handing it back to him the minute he reached for it again, apparently deciding that parting with it had been a poor decision on his part.

"You OK?" Daryl asked. "Or you're still cross?"

"I wasn't cross to begin with," Carol offered without looking at him.

"You don't gotta wait to tell nobody," Daryl said. "You want? We'll go get June Bug from school today an' we'll all go to the market together. Get the fixings for supper an' we'll stop everybody we see in the whole store an' tell 'em we're expecting. Call Merle and Andrea...Alice an' Mel. Whoever you want, Carol. Get 'em over here for supper. We'll tell everybody we see. Today. Right now. Tell Sophia to come home as soon as she can because what we got? She won't wanna miss knowin' about it for long."

"And then, Daryl?" Carol asked. "Then what do we do? If there isn't a baby?"

Daryl nodded his understanding of her concern.

"Then we handle that if it's something we have to handle, Carol," Daryl said. "But we don't what'll come to pass and that was true before just as much as it is now."

Carol didn't immediately respond to him. Instead, she slipped off the chair and got on her knees on the floor, reaching for the blocks that Jack was bringing her so that she could help him stack up a tower as tall as he was for him to send it crashing back down again.

Deciding that she needed a little time, and more than willing to give it to her, Daryl left her in the boy's room and started to clear away the cake plates and coffee cups so that, when she did decide to come out and talk about it more, that wouldn't be another task simply sitting there waiting for her to complete it.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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After he finished the dishes, Daryl sat down to read the newspaper. He didn't press the issue when Carol finally rejoined him outside of Jack's nursery, bringing the boy with her to play among the toys that he had strewn all around the living room. She needed a little time and that was one thing they happened to have in abundance.

When it was time to pick June up from school, Daryl gave Carol a little more space and a little more time while he went to get their daughter, and he gladly spent the rest of the late afternoon with the children while Carol made calls about the dresses that she would be a little delayed in finishing, citing her reason as a family issue that had been resolved practically as quickly as it had begun.

Carol prepared their evening meal with the same care that she always did, and Daryl helped her put the children to bed because their little ones were mostly accustomed to bedtime being a family affair.

After the children were asleep, Carol worked on dresses until Daryl finally called her to bed with the promise that any dress not finished by that hour was better suited to wait for another day. Then he watched her from the bed as she went through the same routine that occupied her nearly every single night.

"If you're quiet 'cause you got a lot on your mind," Daryl offered, "then I don't mind it. If you're quiet 'cause I did somethin' to upset you, though, then I think you owe it to me to tell me what it is so I got a chance to set it straight."

Carol looked at him, sliding into bed, with her brow furrowed and her mouth slightly open.

"Am I quiet?" She asked.

Daryl laughed to himself. She sounded genuinely surprised that he would suggest that she was being quiet.

"You ain't hardly said ten words all evening that weren't necessary," Daryl said. "You telling me that it's just 'cause you got a lot on your mind?"

"I didn't realize I was being quiet," Carol said. She sounded genuine enough. "I guess I have a lot on my mind. I'm sorry—I shouldn't have left you to entertain yourself all day."

"Don't apologize to me," Daryl said. "I wasn't looking for an apology. But—you think you might want to tell me what it is that's on your mind? There's a lot more room out here than there is in there."

Carol laughed to herself.

"What isn't on my mind?" She asked. She sighed and settled back into her pillows, rearranging the blanket as though it needed it so soon after she'd slipped into bed.

"If you wanna tell everyone," Daryl said, "then I meant what I said. We'll tell 'em. It don't matter if you're supposed to wait or you're not. You wanna tell, then you can tell. It's our news to share how we see fit and when we see fit."

Carol frowned at the obviously offending blanket.

"I don't want to tell everyone," she said. She shook her head, still looking at the blanket as though the conversation she was having was with it and not with Daryl. "Miss Josephine is right. It's only proper to wait a while and—and be sure that everything is as it should be."

"Maybe there's some truth to that," Daryl said. "But—I still mean it. You want to tell everyone, we'll tell 'em. As soon as tomorrow and that's just because I don't think half the town would appreciate us waking 'em up at this hour to say we're expecting."

Carol laughed to herself. It was the first break in her solemnness that Daryl had seen all day, so he'd take it. She looked at him, then, and the smile didn't entirely fade from her lips.

"I don't mind the waiting," Carol said. "I guess we've waited fourteen years, it won't hurt to wait a few weeks more."

"But?" Daryl asked.

"I didn't say 'but'," Carol responded.

"Maybe you don't have to," Daryl said. "Maybe I just heard it there, even though you didn't get around to saying it."

Carol nodded her head. She dropped her eyes back to the blanket for a moment. Then she brought them back to Daryl.

"But it just feels like—if we don't say anything that we're just ignoring it," Carol said. "And—part of me knows that's the way it's supposed to be. But the other part of me doesn't feel like ignoring it. We've waited so long. I just want—I want to feel every bit of the happiness that I imagined I'd feel before. But right now? I mostly just feel a little ill, Daryl. And—worried."

Daryl reached his hand over and caught Carol's hand. He held it, flexing his fingers to squeeze hers.

"Worryin' don't do no good," Daryl said. "And all I've ever heard was that worryin' was bad for babies. Not good for 'em. So how about you don't worry no more. Or, if you feel like you just have to worry? How about you just just—keep it down to ten or fifteen minutes a day? We'll just designate you a worry period and you can worry to your heart's content during that time, but just not outside of out."

Carol laughed to herself.

"I'm not sure that's how worry works," Carol said.

"I know it ain't," Daryl said quickly. "But I can wish it was."

Carol sighed.

"I'll try not to worry," Carol said. "For you."

"And for that baby you're carrying," Daryl offered.

"For that reason too," Carol said.

Daryl squeezed her hand in his. Physically he was holding her. Sometimes, when he remembered how she'd once been, he would feel a panic rising up in his chest. Like her, he worried too. The only difference was that, perhaps, they worried with different levels of intensity about things. Maybe, too, they worried about different things entirely. Sometimes the thing that Daryl feared the most was that he could hold her there physically, but that one day she might just slip away from him otherwise. He was sure, though, that she never realized that one of the reasons he enjoyed touching her so much was because he liked the reassurance that she was there. He seldom told her things like that, though, because he didn't want to remind her of things that they'd put behind them—even if he knew that they were both silently aware of them.

"You try not to worry," Daryl said. "And—I'll make it so that we're sure we don't ignore the baby."

"There's hardly a baby there," Carol said.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"More than enough not to ignore it," Daryl said.

"We can't say anything around June," Carol said. "Not until we're ready to say something to the whole world. She'll share it with everyone before we've even had a chance."

"We won't share it with June," Daryl said. "Not just yet. Maybe—we won't share it with anyone right now. Miss Josephine won't tell anyone and she's good on her word. Maybe for just the few weeks that we have to wait, we'll just share it between us. You and me. It'll just be our little secret that we share together like this."

"That's how it's going to have to be," Carol said. "If we're not telling anyone."

"Don't make it sound like it's sad, OK?" Daryl said.

Carol shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe it's not sad," she said. "Maybe it's not really anything. Not yet. I mean—there isn't much to say about it. I know about it. You know about it. That's really all there is to say for now."

"You know," Daryl said, "you didn't really give me a chance to—say my congratulations about the whole thing. Or to say really anything about what I've been thinking since you told me."

Carol frowned at him.

"I wouldn't really think that you'd say congratulations, Daryl," Carol said.

"Why not?" Daryl asked.

"Because it's your baby," Carol said.

"Maybe I still want to say it," Daryl offered. "Maybe I got a lot of things to say."

Carol hummed at him.

"Then you know you're free to say whatever you want," Carol said. "I certainly won't stop you from saying whatever's on your mind."

Daryl lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the soft skin.

"Congratulations," Daryl said. "A thousand times—congratulations." The corners of her mouth turned up just slightly and Daryl swallowed back his own smile. It was such a simple word, but it was clear that it meant so much to her. "If there's anybody deserves to be a Mama again, Carol—it's you. And a thousand times over. But I know this is important to you. I know you've wanted this baby for so long—you wanted it even before you knew you did. So I'ma say it again. Congratulations."

"You're sweet," Carol offered softly.

"I'm honest," Daryl said. "If I'm anything, I'm honest."

"You don't have to congratulate me just because Miss Josephine took back her congratulations," Carol said. "And just because there's nobody else to say it."

"I'm not," Daryl said. "I'm sayin' it because I feel it. I'm also sayin' it because—I'm feeling a little overwhelmed myself."

"Worried?" Carol asked, furrowing her brows at him.

"Not about the baby," Daryl said.

"About me?" Carol asked.

Daryl nodded his head. Carol shook hers in response.

"You don't need to worry about me, Daryl," Carol tried to assure him.

"I always do," Daryl told her.

"I'm fine," Carol said quickly.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Maybe that makes me just worry more, Carol," Daryl said. "Sometimes I feel best when you're not fine. When you're—just about anything else besides fine. At least then? Whether you're happy or you're sad or...whatever you are? I know you ain't lyin' to me."

"I'm not lying," Carol assured him. "But—I do want to know how you feel."

Daryl nodded his head.

"I feel—surprised. Because I weren't expecting this. I'd pretty much given it up. I figured we'd have maybe three or four more kids someday, but I didn't expect that they'd come to us like this. I feel—happy. Because I know how much you been wantin' us to have a baby between us and now it looks like that's coming to pass. I feel—a little bit selfish. Because you're sad that it ain't proper to share it with everyone else just yet and I'm thinkin' that I like the idea of it just bein' ours right now. Just something for you and for me. A secret that we know about and everyone around us just don't know. And I feel—somethin' that I don't know the right word for. Because you're my wife. You have been for a long time. And—whether or not we already got three kids? This is somethin' different for us both that we're sharin' together an' you're giving me a child, Carol. You're makin' our home even more complete than it was before."

Carol pulled her hand free from Daryl's and she changed her position in the bed. She rubbed her fingers across his cheek and cupped his jaw before she kissed him. The kiss was slow and Daryl savored it. He tasted her mouth and toyed with her tongue, holding the kiss as long as she'd allow. Something in her eyes was dark, though, when she pulled away from him.

"You deserve to have a baby that's come from you," Carol said. "Something of you to leave the world. Isn't that what your brother says?"

Daryl laughed to himself.

"My brother's an idiot that I'd rather not discuss in bed," Daryl said. "Not when my wife is lookin' so damn beautiful and I've got a taste to spend a little time just loving with her."

"If something happens," Carol said, "then I've just failed you. There won't be a baby."

Daryl shook his head at her.

"If somethin' happens? They was still a baby," Daryl said. "Whether it's—just between us forever or not? It's still there now. Real as it'll ever be. And it'll still be real. Even if we're just—holdin' onto it by ourselves. You understand?"

"You'll be disappointed," Carol said.

"I will," Daryl said. "And so will you. We'll be disappointed together. But I won't be disappointed at you. You ain't let me down yet, Carol. Never. Not once. I don't think you're about to start. I don't wanna talk about the bad that could happen, though. I don't wanna think about it. What I think we ought to do is spend our time thinking about the good. I got a good feeling about it all. Don't you? They say good things come to those who wait, and we've sure put in our time waitin' on this little miracle to happen. Why would we believe, then, that it ain't our miracle to have?"

"I didn't even think it couldn't be until—Miss Josephine said that," Carol said. "I didn't even think about it. From the moment they told me I was just—wrapped up in thinking that everything we've waited for was finally coming to pass. We thought it would never happen and...I could hardly believe it."

Daryl smiled.

"Then let go of what the hell she said, Carol," Daryl said. "And hold onto what you feel. That's all you gotta do. Let go of what she said and hold onto what you know. In there. In your heart. Because that's all that matters. What you know and what I know. And if there's somethin' we gotta deal with? We'll handle it. We always do, but there ain't no need in dealing with somethin' that just might never need to be dealt with."

"Maybe I'm scared to let myself get too carried away," Carol said. "Maybe I'm scared to get too caught up in daydreams."

"I been scared of that before myself," Daryl said. "But—I let myself get caught up in a daydream about what might could be one time before. And I'd say it turned out alright for me. Got me a wife that I wouldn't trade for the world. One that's supported me through just about anything I've had a mind to do. Got me three kids that make me pretty sure it's worth gettin' up in the morning." He winked at her. "Got me another little one on the way that—come May? I'm gonna be walkin' down the street just crowin' about how my baby's havin' me a baby and I'm as proud as any man ever was."

"I'm a daydream?" Carol asked with a laugh, leaning on Daryl's chest. He moved his hands, coaxing her to come back for a kiss and she obeyed him. The kiss was a little different than the first, and this time she nipped at his lips playfully as she pulled away from him.

"Best dream I ever had," Daryl said. "So—what do you say you stop worryin'? Because that weren't exactly the activity I had in mind for filling up our bedtime hours tonight."

Carol smiled at him, the corner of her mouth just turning up.

"What did you have in mind?" Carol asked.

"A lesson," Daryl said. "In just—how it was that baby we got, got to bein' there in the first place. I think—I mighta forgot how such a thing happened. Maybe I need you to teach me again."

Carol laughed to herself.

"It's pretty easy," Carol said. "Even if it took us fourteen years to get it just right."

"Then why don't you just come the rest of the way over here," Daryl offered, "and show me just how we finally got it right?"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl very quickly figured out that Carol didn't want to talk about their "little secret" at all if she wasn't allowed to talk about it publicly. For the next few days, despite his insistence that she simply try to take it easy, she lost herself in sewing with a dedication that reminded him of the first few days that she'd been home with him and free from Sunny Meadows.

Her dedication to distraction worried Daryl, but he kept his concerns to himself lest he project onto her what he was feeling. Instead of letting her know that he was concerned, he tried to assess how she was feeling by asking her questions and judging her responses.

Why was she working so hard?

She had a lot to do. She had a lot of orders and there were a lot of dresses that she wanted to practice making from new patterns, the practice dresses being ones that she wore herself, made for Sophia, or gave away as gifts to clients who frequently ordered things from her.

Didn't she think it would be good to take a break?

Sewing was something she enjoyed. It was something she was good at. She liked the feeling of accomplishment that came with every finished dress and even Daryl couldn't argue that such an activity was overly strenuous or trying.

Was there anything she wanted to talk about?

She had nothing pressing to discuss, but was more than willing to chat with Daryl about anything that he might want to talk about.

In the end, Daryl left her alone about her sewing. Maybe she was simply very involved with her work. And if she was sewing for distraction, perhaps she actually needed the distraction and it was better to let her have it until she was ready to talk openly with Daryl.

Two weeks passed before they got the call from Sophia that she was driving home from school to spend the weekend with them. She'd arrive, as she always did, late in the evening on Friday and she'd stay with them until she left just after an early supper on Sunday. Daryl couldn't be happier that Sophia was coming to stay for the weekend, and he knew that Carol was excited too, even if she didn't say it as much as she showed it by devoting some of her extra energy into cleaning and preparing the room that Sophia shared with her little sister during the weekends when she visited.

The Thursday evening before Sophia's arrival, Daryl entertained their little ones while Carol put the final touches on the room. She made up the bed that Sophia would sleep in with clean sheets and she practically washed the room from floor to ceiling in anticipation of their daughter's arrival. Daryl let her enjoy her cleaning—because Carol did seem to enjoy cleaning a great deal—and it was only after he was sure that she'd done all that she could possibly think to do that he requested she join him and simply enjoy playing with June and the puzzle that the young girl was putting together while Daryl kept their son from obtaining pieces of the thing that he might try to eat.

Daryl watched Carol while she sat on her knees on the floor and helped June with the puzzle. He bounced Jack on his knee, entertained the little boy with his toys, and rolled the brightly colored ball back and forth across the floor with the little boy to keep him occupied.

And all the while, he kept his eyes on Carol.

She seemed fine, but not as fine as Daryl wished that she would seem. There was something there, even if she was doing an incredible job of covering it over.

Carol applauded June over every piece that she fit into place in the puzzle and she slid pieces, the locations of which she'd already identified, closer to the girl with her fingertip. Every now and again, she looked at Daryl and she smiled, almost seeming a little shy over the fact that she notice him watching her.

When it was finally time to put the children to bed, Daryl went with Carol to put June down as they usually did. Carol tucked June in and then she got into bed beside the little girl, curling next to her. Balancing Jack in his lap, like he did every night, Daryl took the book that June had picked out of her collection and read aloud to the room full of his loved ones. Since the book was one of the shorter ones and June wasn't entirely settled after the first read-through, Daryl read the book a second time, careful to keep his tone of voice as soothing as possible.

When he'd finished the book, and June's eyes were getting heavy, Daryl offered the little girl a kiss on the forehead and collected their son. He replaced the book on June's little shelf while Carol went through her nightly ritual of wishing the girl sweet dreams, easing out of the bed, and tucking the covers tightly and carefully around June the way that she liked them.

Then the two of them took Jack to his room where they eased him into his crib and wished for him the same sweet dreams that they hoped would visit his sister.

Daryl didn't bring anything at all up to Carol until both the children were settled and she'd started to busy herself with tidying the already clean kitchen. Daryl followed her, observing her work, and only then spoke to her about some of the things that had been on his mind.

"I think—when Soph comes? I think we oughta tell her about the baby," Daryl said.

"I think it's too soon," Carol offered, keeping her back turned to Daryl while she dried dishes that had been left to dry on their own long enough. "We're still supposed to wait two more weeks. I'm almost certain of that."

"Maybe to tell the whole town we're supposed to wait," Daryl said. "But this is Soph. And there ain't no guarantee she makes it back in two weeks. She'll be havin' exams and such. She might not make it back right when we start tellin' everyone. This ain't the kinda thing that she oughta be the last to know and she don't need to hear it over the phone."

Carol was taking an excruciatingly long time drying the dishes. Daryl finally walked over to where she was and took the dish towel and the coffee cup she was drying out of her hand. He looked at it before he returned it to its proper spot.

"Them dishes are dry, Carol," Daryl said. "Ain't no need in dryin' 'em no more. You just about set to rub the flowers right off."

Carol frowned at him.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Didn't ask you to be sorry about it," Daryl said. "But—I would like to know what's really goin' on. Would like you to talk to me. Can you do that?"

Carol folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips at Daryl. She almost looked mad and Daryl came close to laughing.

"Did I piss you off?" He asked. "Because I want you to talk to me?"

"I don't know what to say," Carol responded. "I don't know...I don't even know what to say or where to begin."

"You don't want to tell Sophia?" Daryl asked.

"I want to tell her," Carol said. "I've wanted to tell her for two weeks. I want to tell everyone. When we're in church? I can barely pay attention because I see people there with their little ones or—someone asks me a question about Jack or June and I'm almost bursting inside to tell them. I want to tell everyone I see. But I feel like I can't tell anyone. I feel like telling them is going to cause something horrible to happen so I just can't talk about it."

"Talking about it ain't gonna make something happen," Daryl said. "Hell—you're doin' just fine. Better'n fine. Carol—you're healthy as a horse. I got a pretty good feeling that nothing's gonna happen except you gonna carry this baby and then we're gonna have another kid."

"You're not supposed to tell people about it because—then you have to tell them if something happens," Carol said.

Daryl nodded his head.

His stomach churned. It wasn't because he believed anything would happen. It wasn't because he was particularly concerned about the baby or the pregnancy at all. Carol was healthy. She got sick pretty much daily for at least a few hours. She didn't like cooking him meat to go with his breakfast and she couldn't stand the smell of him cooking it early in the day, so he'd simply foregone eating meat at breakfast. That was the worst thing, really, that had come out of the whole thing so far and he didn't consider that to be any real tragedy worth reporting.

But Carol was dealing with a lot of stress and that was worse for her than anything in Daryl's opinion because he had to worry about what it would do to her mind as much as he had to worry about the effects it might have on her body.

"I want you to hear me out about something," Daryl said. "And I want you to listen to me real good and think about it a minute 'fore you answer me. And, Carol? When you answer me? I want it to be you that's answerin' me. I don't want it to be what'cha heard or what'cha been told or what'cha been taught to think. I want you to just straight tell me what you think. OK?"

"OK," Carol said, nodding her head. She dropped her arms.

"Now I don't think a single thing is gonna happen," Daryl said. "Nothing. But—and I'm just sayin' but to give you something to think about—but if it did, and we had told everybody we was gonna have a baby, would it be the worst thing to have to tell 'em that there weren't gonna be no baby?"

Carol stared at him. She frowned, and he wasn't sure if it was over the idea of there being no baby or if it was over the idea of telling everyone that they'd lost the child.

"I don't think it's gonna happen," Daryl reiterated. "I'm just askin' would it be the worst thing to have to tell 'em?"

"If we don't tell them," Carol said, "and something happens? They don't have to know that I—that I failed at doing this...this one simple thing."

Daryl swallowed and shook his head.

"You wouldn't have failed at nothing," Daryl said. "You think that there ain't plenty of women who lose babies? If there weren't? There wouldn't be some stupid rule about waiting to tell people because wouldn't nobody think it was such a big possibility."

"I'm sure there are," Carol offered quietly.

"And you think they failed?" Daryl asked. "Just—failed at everything because they lost their kid? Because that seems like an awful cruel joke from God if it's true. Gotta deal with losin' the kid and failing all at the same time. You don't really think they failed, do you?"

Carol shook her head. She was still frowning at him.

"No," she said. "I don't think they failed."

"Then why would you fail because of the same thing?" Daryl asked.

The frown deepened. Carol didn't respond. She simply shrugged her shoulders. Daryl stepped forward and reached his arms out to her. She let him wrap her in a hug, and he didn't have to wait long before she returned the hug. He simply held her there, rather than letting her go, and she didn't protest being kept in his arms.

"Even if it happened, it wouldn't be no kinda fail," Daryl said. "But I think—we waited long enough. You've waited long enough. I think it's time to start tellin' everybody."

"What if something does happen?" Carol asked. "They'll say we should've waited."

"They've said a lot of things," Daryl said. "What's one more thing for them to say? Besides—gives 'em all something to do. They worry about us and it keeps 'em off somebody else for a bit."

"You really want to tell everyone?" Carol asked.

Daryl was ready to tell everyone about the baby, especially since he felt like mentioning the baby in his own house was almost taboo at the moment. He was ready for Carol to tell everyone she wanted to tell. He was ready for her to practically go skipping through the store telling everyone she saw that she was happy about her news. He was ready, more than anything, to see her allow herself to be truly happy about it.

And Daryl, too, was ready to be happy about it. He was ready to share it with the world.

Daryl rubbed his hand around her back as he held her against him.

"I wanna tell everyone," he said. "I do. I don't wanna wait no more. I think—we tell Sophia tomorrow. As soon as she gets home. And then I think you an' her oughta spend Saturday planning a dinner. We'll call up Merle and Andrea. Alice and Melodye. We'll get anyone over here that you want and we'll tell 'em all that we're adding to our family in a whole new way."

Carol pulled away from him. She dragged her fingers under her eyes, but she already looked a little lighter than she had when she'd been frowning at him by the sink.

"You don't think it's too early?" Carol asked.

Daryl shook his head.

"I don't care," Daryl said. "But I don't think it's too soon either. And—I dare any damn body at that table to tell me it is 'cause they'll find themselves seein' the outside of our door 'fore they even see the coffee and cake coming."

Carol smiled at him.

"You really want to tell?" She asked.

The smile made Daryl a thousand times more positive that he did, indeed, want to tell. He nodded his head at her.

"Absolutely," Daryl said. "I don't really want to wait until Saturday, but I will—just because I know it'll be a good thing for you and Sophia to have a dinner to plan together. And I'm gonna like seein' everybody hear the news at once. So I'll wait that long, but I don't want to wait no longer. We've waited fourteen years. I'd say that's plenty of time to wait."

Carol's smile widened to a full grin and she wrapped her arms around Daryl so tightly that it almost choked off his air for a moment. Daryl smiled to himself and hugged her back, enjoying the pressure of the embrace.

"You wouldn't, by chance, want to turn in a little early tonight? Let the rest of the cleaning you seem to have a mind to do just wait it out?" Daryl asked.

Carol pulled away from him and raised her eyebrow at him. The grin was replaced with the slight curling upward of her lip in amusement.

"Are you saying you need a little attention?" Carol asked.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Exactly what I'm saying," Daryl said. "I'm feeling in need of a little attention from my wife and the mother of my children—all _four_ of 'em."

"I suppose the cleaning can wait," Carol said. "Although I really should get everything ready for breakfast in the morning. You know I'm not as quick at getting everything done as I used to be in the morning."

"Mornings are for breakfast," Daryl said. "Nights are for loving. The breakfast'll be there in the morning. And if you're—otherwise occupied? I'll make the breakfast myself if it means more time with you tonight."

Carol laughed to herself.

"With an offer like that," she said. "I can't refuse. Come on, Daryl. It's time for bed."

"Lead the way," Daryl offered. "I'm following you."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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"You look thin," Carol insisted. "Are you sure you're eating enough, Sophia?"

Sophia laughed to herself.

"I promise, Mama," Sophia said. "The food isn't as good as yours, but there's more than enough of it. I think I might've gained some weight."

"Could stand to gain more," Daryl said. "You do look a little thin."

"Did I come home to spend all weekend defending my eating habits?" Sophia asked.

"We don't mean to make you defend nothing," Daryl said quickly. "Just worried about you, that's all."

Sophia smiled at him.

"I'm fine, Daddy," Sophia insisted. "But what about you two?"

Daryl looked at Carol. She ran pink in the cheeks, but she was smiling at him.

"We're fine," Daryl said. "Great, actually. Really great."

"Really great?" Sophia asked with a laugh. "Come on—what's going on? You practically dragged me over here as soon as I got in the door. I can tell when something's going on."

It wasn't a lie. They had practically dragged her to the table to sit with them. Daryl had taken Sophia's bag from her on the porch and had put it in the room she'd share with June for the weekend, the little ones already tucked away in bed, while Carol had lead Sophia over to the table to sit and have something to drink. She'd offered her some warmed up leftovers from supper, but Sophia insisted that she'd already eaten and just wanted to spend a little time with them before she retired to bed.

"The truth is," Daryl said, "that we got somethin' we wanna talk to you about. But—we didn't exactly plan out how we would get around to sayin' it."

Sophia's brow immediately furrowed. Daryl smiled to himself because the girl was practically the mirror image of her Mama and, like her Mama, she had the uncanny ability to become concerned about things as a first response.

"It ain't nothin' bad, Soph," Daryl said. "So you can just untwist your face."

Sophia didn't immediately relax out of her expression.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked. "Mama? Are you OK? You look—a little pale."

Carol reached her hand up and touched her face like her fingers would give her the ability to see her coloring.

"She don't look pale," Daryl said. "Just looks like she always does. A little pink in the cheeks if you ask me."

Carol smiled at him softly. She ran a little pinker in the cheeks than she had been before.

"What is it?" Sophia pressed.

"You gonna tell her?" Daryl asked.

"I think you can," Carol responded.

Daryl nodded his acceptance. He hadn't prepared to be the one to tell Sophia the news at all. He'd figured that Carol would be busting to tell someone, so he'd let her tell Sophia. If she wanted to pass the task over to him, though, he'd be happy to take it even if he was a little ill-prepared.

Daryl cleared his throat.

"Sophia—your Mama and me were thinkin' that Jack's comin' up on two years old now and—we were just thinkin' it was time to add one more to our family."

Sophia's eyes went wide and she smiled.

"Another baby?" She asked.

Carol nodded and Daryl did too.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "Another one. What you think about that?"

"It's great!" Sophia said quickly. "When do you get it?"

Daryl cleared his throat.

"We're—lookin' at November. Right around Thanksgiving, probably," Daryl said.

"That seems like a while," Sophia said. "Even with Jack Jack it was only four months, wasn't it? After you put in that you wanted to adopt?"

"It was," Daryl said. "About four months. But this one's a little different. Whole thing is a little bit different than it was with Jack and June."

Sophia shrugged her shoulders.

"Different how?" She asked.

Daryl swallowed. Carol was watching him more than she was watching Sophia. He felt a little overwhelmed with the undivided attention of the both of them.

"We're doin' this one different all the way around," Daryl said. "Because—this one? Soph—it's gonna come into our home as a brand new baby."

"Jack was only a month old," Sophia offered.

"So he was," Daryl said. "But this one's gonna come in even younger'n that."

Sophia was starting to look confused and it was clear that it hadn't sunk in for her at all. Of course, why would it? She was almost twenty-two and, as far as Daryl knew, she'd been hoping they'd have a baby for about as long as June had even been alive. Like them, she'd probably given up any hope at all that it would come to pass. She wasn't expecting to get news like this. She was simply expecting some news about an impending adoption.

Daryl couldn't help but smile at her.

"Sophia—we can't exactly say we were planning for things to go this way," Daryl said, "even though we feel—we feel blessed beyond measure. But, sweetheart? We found out that'cha Mama's carryin' us a baby so we just gotta be patient and wait on it to get here."

Carol watched Sophia with expectation. Daryl let his eyes dart back and forth between Carol and Sophia. It took a long moment for realization to settle in for Sophia. Even hearing the words, they were so unexpected that she didn't seem immediately able to react.

As soon as she did realize what was going on, though, Sophia's eyes went wide and she hit her feet. She headed straight for her mother, arms outstretched, and Carol was barely able to turn in her chair before Sophia practically wrapped around her. Daryl moved his chair to the side to allow more room for Sophia's body.

"Is he serious, Mama?" Sophia asked, hugging her mother's neck.

"He's serious," Carol said. "We weren't expecting it at all. I was so surprised!"

"We both were," Daryl said.

It seemed that his speaking again only reminded Sophia that he was there and she peeled herself away from Carol to turn and offer Daryl a strong hug that choked him slightly. He rubbed her back and returned the hug with a slightly gentler hold on her body.

"This is wonderful! Oh my! It's so—it's..." Sophia stammered out, straightening up. She stood, for just a moment, looking at Carol before Daryl took her hand and drew her attention back. He redirected her to her seat and she returned to it and sat down, practically bouncing in the chair.

"I guess that means to say you ain't mad about it?" Daryl asked.

"It's so wonderful!" Sophia repeated. "Oh—it's so wonderful! I'm so excited! Aren't you excited?"

Carol laughed.

"We're very excited, sweetheart," Carol said. "So excited and happy and...overwhelmed, really. It still feels so new. It feels so impossible."

"Except it's very, very possible," Daryl insisted. "We know because it's there."

"Have you told everyone?" Sophia asked, still a little wide-eyed. She was leaning on her elbows on the table like she was half willing to crawl across it and crawl right into their laps. "Aunt Andrea? Uncle Merle?"

"We haven't told nobody, hardly," Daryl said. "Miss Josephine Greene because she was here watching your brother while I took your Mama to the doctor. But she's not telling anyone and we've been waiting. We finally decided we'd tell you and we thought it was time to start telling everyone."

"Tomorrow," Carol said. "We thought it might be nice to have supper for everyone? We could tell them when they're all together. I thought—you and I could plan what we wanted to prepare? We could go shopping for it tomorrow and make supper together?"

"Unless you gotta study," Daryl interjected. "We don't want you ignoring your studies just 'cause you home for the weekend and you findin' out your Mama's gonna have a baby."

"I study every night, Daddy," Sophia said quickly. "And I can study any night. But it's not just every night that I find out I'm gonna be a big sister again! Please, Mama—can we make a cake tomorrow? For the supper?"

"Hell—I'd be disappointed if there weren't no cake," Daryl offered.

"Of course we'll make a cake," Carol said. "And anything else you want to make. You can pick the food, Sophia. I'll help you make it."

"Are you happy, Mama?" Sophia asked.

Carol nodded her head.

"I think I'm as happy as I could ever be," Carol said.

"We was a little worried about how you might feel about it," Daryl said.

Sophia furrowed her brow at him.

"I would've thought you'd've known I'd be happy," Sophia said. "I wanted you two to have a baby for—well, for as long as I can remember."

Daryl nodded his head.

"But it's the first baby we've had between us," Daryl said. "And—it's the first that'cha Mama's carried since she carried you."

Sophia swallowed. She didn't exactly frown, but something came across her features. Daryl glanced at Carol to see the concern settling there on her face.

"Sophia—it doesn't...if I could..." Carol stammered out.

Sophia shook her head.

"No, Mama," Sophia said quickly. "Don't say anything. I'm not—it doesn't upset me. Really. I'm not upset. I think—if anything I'm upset that maybe you thought I'd be upset. I'm upset that maybe you were upset over what you thought I might think or—how I might feel. I love June. I love Jack. Nothing and nobody will ever change that. And nothing will ever change that they're my brother and sister. But—I've wanted you to have this since...for almost as long as I can recall. You wanted it so bad and I...well, I sometimes think I wanted it just as much as you did. For you. So—I'm not upset. I'm happy about it."

"I know you didn't get to be..." Carol started again.

Daryl reached his hand over and patted Carol's leg under the table.

"I think what Soph's trying to say is she's happy," Daryl said. "As happy as she can be. And you oughta be as happy as you can be. 'Cause that's what this is about. It's about—bein' happy with our new little baby and celebratin' all that with our family. All of it."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Sophia said. "I don't want you to feel sorry, Mama. That wasn't ever what I wanted you to feel. Not if you ever got this. And—I don't want to feel the kind of sad that I think just knowing you were feeling sorry would make me feel. You understand?"

Carol nodded her head. She forced her smile back to her lips, but it didn't take long before it took over genuinely again.

"I'm so happy you're home, sweetheart," Carol said. "Even if it is just for a few days."

"It's always good to be home," Sophia said with a smile. "And I really am happy, Mama. Honest. I'm as happy as I can be. Are you happy too?"

Carol nodded her head.

"I'm as happy as I can be," she echoed.

"I ought to get some sleep," Sophia said. "If we're going to do a big supper tomorrow we're going to need to do a lot of preparing. And if things haven't changed too much, I doubt Jack is going to let anyone sleep in too late. We all know how much he hates to miss breakfast."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Jack don't miss breakfast," Daryl said. "And this little one? He don't let your Mama sleep no way. She'll be up before Jack. Just—if you got a mind to use the restroom? You might want to do it early. It's her territory for at least until breakfast's halfway done." Daryl patted Carol's leg under the table again to let her know that he meant no scolding of any type. He was teasing, mostly, but he didn't want her to feel that her being indisposed was something she should apologize for. "Reminds me," Daryl added. "I'm sorta the breakfast chef around here. How you want your eggs in the morning?"

"Scrambled too much to ask?" Sophia asked.

"Just perfect to me," Daryl said. "Happens to be my specialty."

Sophia stood up and Daryl offered her a cheek when she stepped next to him. She planted a kiss on his cheek before she wrapped her arms around his neck in a warm hug.

"Goodnight, Daddy," Sophia said.

"Goodnight, Sophia," Daryl responded.

"Are you happy, Daddy?" Sophia asked.

"I always am. Happy as I've ever been," Daryl said. "And I imagine, happy as I'll ever be. You don't have to worry about me, Soph."

Sophia nodded her head at him and raised her eyebrows at Carol.

"You'll tuck me in, Mama?" Sophia asked. "Talk a minute?"

Carol got up and followed the girl without saying anything. Daryl watched the two of them as they headed to the room where Sophia would sleep.

He already knew what would happen. It went the same way every time that Sophia came for a visit. And he knew his role too. He was to believe, because Sophia worried that he'd think she was too old for what really happened, that they would just get caught up in whispered conversation and Carol would spend some time there catching up with her daughter before she came to bed. The reality of it was that Carol would lie with Sophia, much like she did with June while Daryl read to her, and she would stay there with the girl for a little while until Sophia had drifted off to sleep. Then Carol would come to bed herself.

As soon as they disappeared into the room, leaving Daryl alone, he went about straightening up the last of the things that needed to be taken care of before bed. He smoked his last cigarette of the night and then he got ready for bed. He was reclining in bed, reading from a book that he'd started probably a month before since it took him a great deal of time to work his way through the books that he read in the evenings, when Carol came in and started her nightly routine. Daryl closed the book and watched her as she started to prepare herself for bed.

"Sophia sleeping?" Daryl asked.

"Jack and June, too," Carol said.

"She's really happy," Daryl said.

"She really is," Carol said. Even with her back to him, Daryl could hear the smile in her voice.

"I'm really happy too," Daryl said. "I didn't lie about that."

"Me too," Carol said. "But—Daryl? Sophia did ask me something to ask you. And it's—kind of important."

"Somethin' to ask me?" Daryl asked. His stomach tightened a little. Carol hummed in the affirmative. "What is it?" Daryl asked.

Carol came toward the bed and eased her way into it. She offered him a smile to let him know he'd been had. She sometimes liked to see if she could catch him worrying since he so often called her out on her own worry.

"What kind of cake do you want for tomorrow?" Carol asked. "Your choice."

Daryl laughed.

"That's what the hell you had to ask me about so serious like?" Daryl asked.

Carol's smile broadened and she nodded her head.

"It's a very important question, Daryl," Carol said.

"It is," Daryl agreed. "And one I got to sleep on. You can't just spring a question like that on a man, Carol. It ain't right."

Carol put on a fake frown, her eyes still smiling at him.

"I'm sorry," she said, some teasing in her tone. It was really the only kind of apology that Daryl liked to hear from her.

"I guess I'ma let it slide," Daryl said. "Just this one time. But—I won't argue with you if you got a mind to come on over here and give me a kiss to make it up to me."

Carol slid over, smiling somewhat coyly at Daryl, and he reached his arms out to pull her against him. It seemed she didn't mind making it up to him at all. It was, after all, the only right thing to do in that situation.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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"Sweetheart—don't forget your cake layers," Carol said. "You need to get them out and let them cool."

Sophia grabbed the mitt she was using and removed the cake layers from the oven. While she prepared them for cooling, Carol continued scraping the potatoes and cutting them into chunks for the pot she'd use to cook them.

"I wish Daddy had picked something more exciting," Sophia said.

Carol laughed to herself.

"Strawberry cake is one of his favorite things," Carol said. "I don't think he knows of too many cakes that are more exciting. What did you want him to ask you to fix?"

"Something challenging," Sophia said. "Something that says—baby."

"What kind of cake says 'baby'?" Carol asked.

"I don't know that either, Mama," Sophia admitted. "When's he getting back?"

"I don't know," Carol said. "He shouldn't be gone too long. He had to take the little ones by the Greene place and pick up the extra strawberries. He should've been home by now." Carol felt her stomach flip in response to the thought. "I hope something hasn't happened."

Sophia, who had always seemed to be pretty in-tune with Carol's emotions, stopped with the cakes and came over, placing her hand flat on Carol's back.

"He's fine, Mama," Sophia said, even though she had no way of knowing that any more than Carol did. "You know how the Greenes can be. He's probably caught up talking to Mr. Hershel and that's what's taking so long."

Carol smiled at Sophia.

"You're right," she said. "He's probably just talking and—he's gotten tied up there. I hope he remembers that everyone's coming, though. He needs to be home in time for us to get those strawberries on the cake."

"He won't forget his cake," Sophia said with a laugh. "You want me to put the chicken in now?"

Carol considered it a moment, but finally she nodded.

"Yes, I think it'll be fine," Carol said. "We want it to have time to cool. We don't want anyone complaining that they burned themselves on the meal. It would be better to have it a little too cool than a little too warm."

Sophia moved the chicken to the oven and came over to the sink to wash her hands. This was her meal and Carol was mostly acting as her sous-chef. She was reminding her of what needed to be done. She was helping her keep track of things and make sure that the timing was right for preparing things. She was peeling and cutting things that Sophia asked her to prepare for her, but she was letting Sophia handle most of the meal herself so that she could take the praise for it when it was given.

"Did you hear about Angela Martin?" Carol asked. "The girl you went to school with?"

Sophia hummed.

"Angie? I remember her," Sophia said. "I haven't seen her since we graduated."

"She got married," Carol said. "I see her mother at church sometimes. I wouldn't say we're friends, but I hear things now and again about her."

"I wouldn't say too many people around here are friends with anyone else," Sophia said.

"Sophia," Carol offered, warning her daughter about her tone. Sophia sighed.

"Sorry, Mama," Sophia said. "It's just that—everyone is so quick to judge everyone else. And it's always been that way. It was that way when I was in school. It's been that way since I can remember."

"Nobody's perfect," Carol offered. "Not even me. Or you, for that matter." Carol smiled to herself. "Though I do believe you're closer than anyone else I know."

Sophia offered Carol a kiss on the cheek.

"I believe that's everything," Sophia said. "The potatoes need to go on to boil. Then I'll mash them when they're ready. Everything will be cooled down to the point that even uncle Merle can't complain about the meal. I've just got to keep an eye on the chicken and put the cake together once it cools."

"The potatoes are ready," Carol said. "I've just got to put the water in and put it on the stove."

"I've got that, Mama," Sophia said, practically pushing Carol out of the way. "What were you going to tell me about Angela? She got married?"

"She got married," Carol echoed. "I didn't know the boy. Some boy she met somewhere. He's not from here. She's moving to where he's from. But her mother was saying that they've been married just a little over five months and she's already expecting. Can you believe that? Barely married and already..."

Carol let her words trail off. She heard Sophia laugh quietly from where she was situating the pot on the stove while Carol cleaned up the scraps from the potatoes and washed out the sink.

"I hear a little bit of bitterness in that, Mama," Sophia said. "Maybe some jealousy?"

Carol swallowed. She knew Sophia was right. Her daughter was often right, and she was quite blunt, about things like that.

"I don't mean to be," Carol said. "It just—sometimes it almost makes me sick to hear those things. You know? It just seems so unfair."

"I understand, Mama," Sophia agreed. "There were things I wanted for you so badly that I would feel the same way to hear people talking about them. They're not necessarily what I want for myself. At least not right away, but for you?" She paused a moment and came over, catching Carol's shoulder as Carol ran her hands under the flowing water from the faucet. Sophia handed her the towel that she could use to dry her hands. "Did you forget, Mama, what this dinner is all about?"

Carol couldn't help but smile at her daughter's expression.

"To be honest," Carol responded, "I do keep forgetting. I keep feeling like it can't possibly be true. I keep waiting to find out that it isn't true. That the doctor was wrong or something. I keep waiting to find out what's going to happen or how things are going to change."

"I can tell you what's going to happen, Mama," Sophia said. She moved around Carol and gently touched her hand to Carol's stomach. She smiled at her. "You're gonna tell everyone tonight that we're welcoming another member to our family. And when it's time? That's exactly what we'll do."

Carol smiled at her daughter and pulled her into a hug. She kissed Sophia's cheek and held her daughter against her.

"I love you, sweetheart," Carol said.

"I love you too, Mama," Sophia responded.

"I'm sorry that—I never got to do these things with you. Before you were born. When you were so small. I never got to know you," Carol said.

Sophia shushed her.

"It doesn't matter, Mama," Sophia assured Carol. "We have each other now and that's all that matters. Please don't get sad before dinner? I want it to be special. I don't want you to be sad."

Carol pulled away from her daughter and quickly swallowed down the emotion that was building in her throat. She nodded at Sophia and forced a smile that would eventually turn into a sincere smile.

"I won't be sad," Carol said. "I promise. I'm not sad. I'm—happy. I guess I just wish that..."

Sophia shook her head at Carol and Carol accepted it for what it meant.

"Do you want to put the kettle on?" Carol asked. "Have some tea while we wait for everything to finish? Then I can help you decorate the cake. Your Daddy should be home by then with the strawberries."

Sophia smiled genuinely at Carol.

"I'd love to have some tea," Sophia said. "But I'm still not letting you do the cake. This is your dinner, too, Mama. My treat. I'm doing the work."

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"I know I'm late," Daryl said even as he got out of the car and pulled his purchases out with him. "But I got caught up at the Greene's and I thought I was never gonna get out of there. I almost thought they were gonna keep me until it was time to just bring the kids back home with me."

Carol and Sophia were sitting on the porch when Daryl got to the house. There was still a little time before they expected their few guests, but he could assume that the meal was prepared or at least dreadfully close to it. At this hour, they would be missing only the finishing touches on anything.

Neither of them scolded him for his tardiness, and he saw the smile on Carol's face when he pulled the flowers out of the car and closed the door.

Daryl walked the short distance to the porch, mounted the steps, and offered the strawberries in Sophia's direction.

"I got you just what you asked for," Daryl said. "And—I got you this."

He separated out the small bundle of three flowers and offered those over to his daughter. She beamed at him and hit her feet. She planted a kiss on his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck to squeeze him, flowers in one hand and strawberries grasped in the other. The look on her face was well worth what he paid for the simple flowers.

"Thank you, Daddy!" Sophia declared.

"I figured it was kinda like a birthday to you," Daryl said. "Since you always was wishin' your Mama would be expecting on your birthday. Thought you might like some flowers."

"They're beautiful, Daddy," Sophia assured him, standing back to admire her flowers. "I better put them in some water before they wilt. And I have to get these strawberries on the cake."

"There's a few new dresses for you," Carol said, "in my sewing room. I was trying out some patterns. You need to try them on for the fit, but if they're right—I'm sure there's something you might like for this evening."

"That green one she made is nice," Daryl said. "You gonna like it. I liked it. It's got one of the kinda flouncy skirts."

Sophia thanked her mother for the dresses she hadn't seen yet—something she could almost always count on acquiring any time she came home—and she slipped inside with her flowers and the strawberries that were meant to decorate the cake that she'd baked.

Daryl looked at Carol, who was still sitting in the swing, and she smiled at him.

"Are those for me?" Carol asked, gesturing toward the flowers that Daryl was still holding. He smiled at her and nodded his head as he offered the flowers in her direction. She moved to get up and he quickly shook his head at her.

"No need to get up," Daryl said. "I'm comin' to you."

Daryl sat down on the swing where his daughter had been sitting a few moments before and passed the flowers over to Carol. She took them and smelled them, burying half her face in the bouquet.

"They're beautiful, Daryl," Carol said.

"Not nearly beautiful enough for you," Daryl said. "But they were some of the nicest that they had."

"You didn't have to bring me flowers," Carol said.

"Not every day we get to tell my brother and his wife and a couple of our closest friends that you're expecting," Daryl said. "Felt to me like the kinda thing that called for flowers."

Carol leaned toward him and offered him her lips. That kind of offer was one that he never refused. He smiled at her when she pulled away from him and raised his eyebrows in her direction.

"If I can expect that kinda payment, I'll bring you flowers most every day," Daryl offered.

Carol sucked her teeth at him and playfully swatted him.

"It was sweet of you to bring me flowers," Carol said. "I'll put them on the table for tonight so everyone can enjoy them. You're sure that Merle and Andrea are coming?"

Daryl hummed and nodded.

"Got someone to sit with the boys," Daryl said. "If they hadn't already got someone they might pass on it, but Merle ain't gonna waste money. Alice and Melodye said they're comin' too. We'll have a full table. I don't think none of 'em suspect what it's about, neither."

"Why would they?" Carol asked. "It seems impossible. I don't even believe it."

"Believe it," Daryl said. "At least they gonna be surprised, though."

"If your brother says something, don't let it get to you, OK?" Carol said. "At least not at the table. Not where Sophia can see. I just—know that he can sometimes upset you and I don't want you to be upset about it tonight. Sophia's so excited and—she's asked me to not get upset about anything and..."

Daryl laughed to himself and shook his head.

"I ain't gonna get upset," Daryl said. "He's welcome to say what he wants to say. If he shows out, I'll just show him out the door. That's all there is to it."

"Please don't make a scene and ruin dinner," Carol said.

"If he's showin' out, it'll only improve dinner to remove him from the room," Daryl said. "Still, I hope he's got enough respect to act like he ought to. Maybe it ain't no big deal to him to have a kid on the way—Andrea's been steady poppin' 'em out for years—but it's a big deal to me. It's a big deal to you. We got three, but this one's—it's comin' a whole different way."

"I don't want to make a big deal about that, either," Carol said. "At least—not with Jack and June around. I don't want them to think that this baby is more important."

"Not more important," Daryl said, catching Carol's hand in his. "Never more important. Just different. An' if they ask? Yeah—it's different. Each and every one of our kids has come into our lives different. They're all special. This one gets to be just as special as everybody else. And tonight—everybody better at least pretend they know how special it is."

Carol laughed quietly. She squeezed Daryl's hand.

"Just don't be upset if they don't react like it's as special to them as it is to us," Carol said.

"That goes for you too," Daryl offered in response.

Carol nodded her acceptance.

"I have to go change," she said. "Freshen up a little."

"You look beautiful just like you are," Daryl said.

Carol smiled at him and offered him another quick kiss.

"I'll lay out a shirt for you," Carol said. "Something nice. Maybe that pretty blue one you got for Easter last year."

"We're really goin' all out," Daryl commented.

"It's not every night," Carol said with a hint of teasing in her tone, "that you get the opportunity to tell your brother that—he's not the only one who can bring a Dixon into the world."


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Here we go, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl wasn't sure at all how he was going to make the announcement. He was excited about it, but he didn't quite know how he wanted to handle things.

When Andrea had fallen pregnant the first time, Merle had made a grand announcement. He'd gone all out. He'd had everything he could think of to drive home the fact that this was an exciting announcement for him. With each pregnancy, though, the announcements had been less and less important until, for the last pregnancy, Daryl couldn't even recall there having been an announcement at all. It seemed like they'd just mentioned the pregnancy in passing and let news spread as it would.

Something similar had happened, too, with Daryl and Carol. Sophia coming had been a grand announcement. June's adoption had been announced over a dinner. Jack's adoption had come over coffee.

Adding to the family lost some of its excitement for everyone when they were used to it.

But this time was at least a little different and Daryl hoped that all his guests would somehow know that when he made the announcement. He hoped they could somehow, even if they didn't feel it, scrape up a little extra enthusiasm.

Carol needed it and he and Sophia desperately wanted it.

Daryl greeted Merle with a handshake and a slap on the back when his brother arrived. He offered Andrea a kiss on the cheek and a word over how nice she looked. When Alice and Melodye arrived, he offered each of the women a kiss on the cheek and some comment about their hair or dress. He followed all the social niceties required of him as their host. Then he shuffled them all inside where Sophia served them all drinks and Carol started the salad to welcome them.

They made it through the salad and on to the main meal before anyone pressed Daryl at all about why they'd been called together.

"You were being kind of mysterious about dinner," Alice said. "It sounded like a pretty special occasion. Are you going to tell us, at any point, what we're celebrating? Or are we just celebrating this...this incredible food that Sophia cooked?"

Alice winked at Sophia before she looked back to Daryl with expectation on her features.

Daryl looked at Carol and she smiled at him before she dropped her eyes to her plate to focus very hard on the food that she was really pushing around more than she was eating it. She was giving him permission to make the announcement. More than that, she was telling him that the only way it was getting made was if he put it to words.

Daryl stood up at his chair and cleared his throat. He couldn't help but smile to himself, but he didn't try to hide it. He wasn't even going to pretend that this wasn't one of the happiest announcements he might ever get to make. He wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't thrilled to make it. Before he could actually get it out, though, they'd already begun to speculate about what it might be.

"Grinning like a mule eating briars," Merle commented. "Spit it out, brother. What's got you so wound up?"

"Is it a promotion?" Melodye asked quickly. "It's a promotion. I knew you had to be up for one soon."

Daryl laughed to himself the moment that everyone jumped on Melodye's suggestion as clearly having to be truth.

"It ain't no promotion," Daryl said. "Not a promotion. Actually—it ain't just my news. It's Carol's news too. Family news. It's—all of us."

Now they were just staring at him and it was practically unnerving. They had so much expectation on their faces that Daryl felt like nothing could really live up to it. He'd let it go on too long. He'd let the excitement build too much. Now even their first biological child together would never live up to what everyone was expecting—or dreaming—that Daryl might announce. He wasn't sure if there was anything within the realm of possibility that might live up to what it was clear they were expecting at this point.

So he knew that he shouldn't leave them waiting any longer because that just risked even more diminished enthusiasm.

Daryl cleared his throat again.

"Carol an' me have been carryin' this secret around for a little while—and by that, I mean she's really been doing most of the carryin' around," Daryl said. "But we couldn't wait no longer and we just wanted everyone to know." Daryl glanced at Carol to see if she might want to jump in and make the announcement, but she didn't. She was just smiling at him. She was waiting on him. Daryl laughed to himself. "I wanted to have some great words for this or just the right way to do it but, I'm not sure how I could say it that could make it come out soundin' like everything it means to us..."

"Just say it, Daryl!" Andrea said quickly. She let out something like a bark of nervous laughter and twisted her napkin in her hands. "The anticipation is killing us!"

"Are you moving?" Alice asked. "Did you get—transferred? If it's not a promotion?"

Her suggestion caused a change in their guests almost suddenly. Nobody liked the idea that Daryl and Carol might be moving, so Daryl took advantage of that moment of lowered expectation and, perhaps, disappointment, to make his announcement because anything he said was sure to cheer them up.

"We're not moving," Daryl said. "We're—havin' a baby!"

If Daryl expected any reaction at all, then he'd guessed dead wrong about what would happen in the immediate aftermath of his announcement. Everyone stared at each other—eyes shifted back and forth from person to person—but nobody said anything. Nobody did anything. Daryl saw a look of disappointment run across both Carol and Sophia's faces.

Daryl waved at Carol and she got up from her seat. She walked over to where he was and Daryl put his arm around her. He laughed nervously to himself and patted Carol's arm.

"Maybe you ain't heard me," Daryl said. "What I said was—we're havin' a baby."

"You mean like—a real one?" Merle asked.

Daryl was giving him a pass only because his brother actually looked stunned. There wasn't any trace of malice on his face. There was no indication that he meant the question in any way other than simply as a genuine question.

"As opposed to artificial babies, Merle?" Daryl asked.

Merle furrowed his brow at Daryl.

"You know what the hell I mean," Merle said.

"You're—having a baby?" Andrea asked, clearly directing her question to Carol.

Carol smiled at her, even though she'd looked like she might be thinking about crying over the whole thing and nodded her head.

"Yeah," Carol said. "We are. We—had been talking about adopting when Jack turned two but..."

"But it looks like God had it all figured out some other way," Daryl said. He leaned over and kissed the side of Carol's face before he squeezed her in a sideways hug.

Everyone still looked like they could be blown over with feathers. But the stunned expressions at least soothed the blow that nobody had reacted with any great enthusiasm just yet. They weren't reacting negatively, they simply needed a second for it to sink in.

It had been so long that everyone had given up any hope of it happening. That much was clear.

It was Andrea, receiving her confirmation from Carol, that seemed to come around first.

"Congratulations!" She declared, standing up and throwing the napkin she'd been harassing at the table. "Congratulations! Oh...Carol! I'm so happy for you!"

Daryl sidestepped to allow Andrea to reach Carol. It was clear that she might get around to congratulating him eventually, but he wasn't her immediate concern.

In front of him, everyone still seated at the table, it was Melodye who seemed to thaw out of her surprise next. She got up and rushed over with a hug and a declaration of congratulations. She offered her hug to Daryl since she found Carol otherwise occupied with Andrea who had decided, for whatever reason, that crying and snotting all over her was the best way to congratulate her about their impending arrival.

Sophia got up to get into the mix, then, and she was the one who accepted the first congratulations from Alice—the last of the females to realize what was going on—before they began something like a game of musical hugs.

When they finished, all the women had at least some dampness to their eyes and they were wiping at them when they took their seats again to finish the meal.

Daryl sat down in his seat, too. He couldn't help but notice that his brother was still just sitting there, watching the whole thing, but he hadn't offered any congratulations.

"You got anything to say, brother?" Daryl asked, pressing him.

Merle shrugged and laughed to himself. He wiped his mouth with his napkin even though it had been some moments since he'd taken a bite of food.

"What can I say, brother?" Merle asked. "You got me—where I don't know what to say."

"Someone write down the date," Alice said. "That's got to be some kind of historical holiday. The day that Merle Dixon didn't know what to say."

"Say something, Merle," Daryl said.

"Congratulations," Merle said, even though the word came out flat. Carol thanked him for the word like it meant something, but it didn't mean much to Daryl. In fact, the way it was said, it simply made his stomach twist up a little. He couldn't say Merle was being cruel, though. He couldn't say that he was showing out or ruining the meal. He couldn't very well turn his brother away from his table because he was sitting there quietly instead of responding with gushed enthusiasm.

Andrea apparently saw something wrong with the situation because she quietly leaned over and rested her hand on her husband's arm. He looked at her and then he offered a somewhat insincere smile.

"Congratulations," he repeated, this time with a little more enthusiasm than before, though still not with a great deal. "Yeah—congratulations. How—when did it happen? You just find out?"

"Couple weeks ago," Daryl said. "Baby's comin' around November. We're givin' a lotta thanks this year."

Merle laughed to himself.

"I bet you are," he said. "I bet you are, brother. So it was just—just like that, huh? Carol—you was just, guess you just knew and it was just like that? Just—unexpected 'cause it's been so many years."

Carol smiled at him. Daryl watched her expression. He reached his hand over and patted hers and she smiled at him before she turned her hand to squeeze him with her fingers. The smile she gave Daryl was far more sincere than the one that she gave his brother.

"It's been a long time," Carol agreed. "But it was—I guess it was just like that. To be honest, I thought it was the change." She laughed to herself. "Daryl thought it was a virus. I guess we were both prepared to believe it was just about anything else. When the doctor told me? I'm still having a hard time believing it."

Daryl squeezed Carol's hand in his to offer her some physical reassurance. Her smile hadn't fully faded, but she renewed it slightly.

"But it's true," Daryl said. "Doctor confirmed it. We even called back. Made him confirm it again." Daryl laughed to himself. "I walked down there when I was on break one day to ask him myself. Just made him tell me one more time. Straight up. But it's true. Carol's healthy, so there ain't no real worry right now. We're just waitin' on the lil' thing to grow. See if we're gettin' us another girl or another boy around here."

"If we're any indication," Andrea offered, "it'll be a boy. A Dixon boy."

Merle hummed.

"Dixon boys are fine boys," Merle said. It was more of a musing than a statement that he directed at anyone in particular, so nobody seemed moved to respond to him. He pushed his chair back from the table and balled his napkin up before he put it beside his plate. "Congratulations again," Merle said. "You'll excuse me. I'ma step out to the porch for some fresh air an' a smoke."

"You haven't finished supper," Andrea said.

"Sophia worked on this meal all day," Daryl said. "Got cake comin' too that she made herself."

Merle looked at Sophia and nodded his head.

"Good meal," he said. "I reckon it'll be here when I come back in. Won't be gone that long."

Without saying anything else, Merle left the table. He left the room and he stepped out on the porch. Daryl wasn't sure what was going on with his brother, but there was something going on. He searched Andrea's eyes for any sign that she might know what it was, but she was looking at him like she was concerned and hoping he had an answer for her.

A mood had fallen over the table that Daryl didn't appreciate. It wasn't the mood he'd wanted for the whole meal. It wasn't a mood of celebration. Instead, everyone was looking at everyone else again like they weren't sure what was happening.

"We brought you all here 'cause we're havin' a baby," Daryl said, deciding to be blunt and honest. "And that's—it's a real important thing to us. Means the world to us. An' you're all here 'cause you're our family. People we closest to. We wanna share this with you. We wanna celebrate somethin' that we've been dyin' to celebrate for a couple weeks now. Now—I'ma step out on the porch. Have a smoke. But when I come back in? I'm hopin' that everybody's gonna be laughin'. I'm hopin' you gonna be enjoyin' what's left of your meal 'fore we move on to cake. I'm hopin' you gonna be talkin' about babies an' everybody's gonna be ready to celebrate with us. Because that's why we asked you here. We're happy—an' we was hopin' you could all be happy with us."

As Daryl started to walk toward the door to follow after his brother, Andrea reached out and caught his hand.

"Daryl..." she said.

Daryl looked at her and shook his head.

"You don't apologize for him," Daryl said before she could even get started. "You don't have to speak for him. I'ma talk to him. You enjoy your meal with everybody else." He smiled at her. "Outta everyone here at the table—you the one that's gonna know best all that stuff you gotta tell Carol about expectin'. I'ma expect you to do it. You can start while I'm gone."

Andrea didn't say anything to Daryl, but by the time he put his hand on the doorknob, she was already rousing the other women in a discussion about the baby by questioning Carol about how they thought of handling the children's sleeping arrangements. Her tone of voice, forced to be more upbeat than usual, seemed contagious, too, because Daryl heard the smile in Carol's voice as she started to explain to everyone the possibilities that they'd discussed.

Daryl smiled to himself.

At least Andrea could keep a conversation going for a couple of hours about expecting a baby—and that was exactly what Daryl wanted.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl lit a cigarette as soon as the door was closed behind him. His brother was sitting in the swing on the porch and he was smoking a cigarette of his own. Daryl didn't feel too inclined to get close enough to his brother to share the swing, so he simply stood on the porch, near the steps, and pretended that he had some great interest in surveying the street where his guests' cars were parked.

"If you come out here to chew on my ass," Merle said, breaking the silence between them, "then I'd advise you to just go back inside brother."

"I don't know why the hell I come out here," Daryl said. "Maybe I was just hopin' you'd explain to me why the hell you acted like you acted."

Merle laughed to himself.

"An' just how the hell did I act, lil' brother?" Merle asked.

"Like you don't give a damn," Daryl said. "Like I announced to the whole room that Carol's pregnant with my kid and you just don't give a damn."

Merle hummed.

"On the contrary," Merle responded.

"Then you pissed off," Daryl said. "But why? You got enough kids for your own damn team, Merle. What you got to be pissed off about that we might get one that's borned between us?"

"I don't give a damn if you have four hundred kids, Daryl," Merle said.

"Then what's your problem?" Daryl asked. He swallowed against the lump that was unmistakably threatening to cut off his air. "What the hell, Merle, is your problem? I wanted everyone here to be happy for us. For one damn night I wanted everyone to just be happy for us. All these damn years an' it seems like it's always about someone else. Like we just don't matter that much. Like our lives just ain't that important. Just tonight—I wanted it to be all about us. Because it's a big deal, Merle. It's a huge deal. To me and to Carol. We'd given up that we'd ever have a kid that was born between us. They was all gonna come from other places. Other parents...but it ain't so. We get at least one chance at this. So why the hell can't you just be happy for us, Merle?"

Merle shifted around and stared at Daryl. He finished his cigarette, snubbed it out in the ashtray that Daryl kept by the swing, and lit another.

"You're a nurse, Daryl," Merle said. "Is it safe to assume you know where the hell these babies come from and how the hell they're made?"

"Fuck you," Daryl said. "Of course I know how babies are made, Merle. I'm married an' I got one on the way."

Merle hummed.

"So you been servicin' that lil' lady since you married her?" Merle asked. "Maybe—you was even gettin' a little taste of things beforehand?"

Daryl narrowed his eyes at Merle.

"I never slept with Carol before we were married," Daryl said. "We done everything honorable. The right way."

"Except she come to you not exactly a blushin' bride," Merle said.

Daryl's stomach churned.

"I don't hold against her what she don't even remember," Daryl said. "And I'd appreciate if you'd keep your mouth shut about it. There's a lot that went on in her life that we don't know nothin' about. We don't know what happened."

Merle laughed.

"What happened was she lay down with another man 'fore she married him, Daryl, an' she got herself in trouble," Merle said. "We all care about Sophia. I know you love her an' you call her your own. Truth is, though, she was borned out of wedlock. She'da never been put up for adoption if she was borned into a healthy, happy marriage."

"We don't know if that marriage coulda ever been happy or healthy," Daryl said. "I know enough about him now. You do. Alice an' Mel. We know he ain't never had nothin' that even looked like a happy or healthy relationship. There's no reason to believe he'da had it with Carol. She dodged a bullet, Merle, not marryin' that man. What does it matter Sophia was borned outta wedlock? I give her my name, didn't I? I give her my name an' I give her my love. Call her my daughter. That's all that matters. If any man is ever to ask for her hand? He'll be askin' it from me. It'll be me that decides if he's the right man to call my daughter his wife—his _beloved_ wife. That's all that matters. It don't matter where she come from."

Merle held his hand up in Daryl's direction to stop him from continuing and Daryl had to swallow against the mass in his throat again. If he didn't know exactly what it was and what caused it, he might have thought that he needed to get to the doctor posthaste to have the thing examined.

"You can just stop for a minute, brother," Merle said. "I can see by the condition of that vein in your forehead that'cha gettin' a lot more wound up than I meant for you to get. An' you gettin' loud enough that this ain't gonna be no private conversation for much longer."

Daryl checked himself and nodded his head. He disposed of his own cigarette butt, this time coming close to his brother, before he returned to his spot leaning against the bannister near the steps and lit another cigarette for himself.

"I've heard everything you've had to say about Sophia," Merle said. "Everything you've had to say about how she an' June an' Jack—they your kids. Just as sure as if you made 'em yourself. I accept that. Respect it, even. You got you a code an' you stick right by it. Let people say whatever the hell they wanna say—they don't sway you. Them's your kids. But that weren't what the hell I was gettin' at. Not exactly. Sophia—she's Carol's kid. Borned to her. Carried by her an' birthed by her. Am I right?"

Daryl nodded his head.

"I reckon you already knowed that," Daryl said.

"So I did," Merle said. "Happened when Carol was damn near a girl herself. But she carried that girl an' she birthed her. Brought her right on into the world. An' then they locked her away. Right? Put her right over there in that buildin' they got set to start workin' on for a center in the comin' year. Weren't that how it happened? They locked her up in there an' turned her into some kinda damn livin' corpse an' you found her there. Brought her home. Made her your wife. Found you the kid that was hers by birth an' you brought her into your home."

"You know the whole damn story," Daryl said. "Am I supposed to congratulate you for payin' attention, Merle? Or is it my turn to tell you how it was you an' Andrea got together?"

Merle laughed to himself.

"I got a point," Merle said.

"You take a long time gettin' to it," Daryl said.

"Just makin' sure I got my facts right," Merle said. "Otherwise you gonna raise hell at me an' say I don't got 'em right. So I'm just doin' my due diligence."

"OK, so get to your point, Merle," Daryl said. "If you even got one."

"You been sharin' a bed with your wife since she become your wife?" Merle asked.

"You know I have," Daryl said.

"An' you're sure you know how the hell it all works?" Merle asked. "I mean—you got the ins and the outs of the whole thing figured out? You know all the mechanics of it?"

"What are you on about?" Daryl asked.

Merle laughed to himself.

"Is that a yes or a no, lil' brother?" Merle asked. "Do you know how to properly service your wife?"

"I wouldn't call it such a thing," Daryl said. "But—I know what I'm doing. And I don't hear no complaints, either, if that's what the hell you're gonna ask me next."

Before Merle could say anything else, the door opened and Andrea stuck her head out.

"Sorry to interrupt you boys," Andrea said. "But your food's getting cold. Are you gonna eat any more of it, or you want it put away to keep for later? It's almost time for cake and coffee."

"I said my food would be there for me when I wanted it an' that's what the hell I meant, Andrea," Merle barked. "Can't you see we're out here talkin'? Go inside an' do the same. That's what you're here for. Daryl ain't finished his meal an' if Carol don't know it, then you know it well enough to tell her that it ain't proper to try to move on to dessert when your husband ain't finished his meal."

"Ask everyone if they wouldn't mind just givin' us a couple more minutes?" Daryl asked. "It's important to us that we finish this 'fore goin' back inside. And I weren't quite done, but I don't really mind it cold. Helps the digestion."

Andrea nodded her head at Daryl, but she didn't say anything her husband. She disappeared back inside the house and pushed the door closed. There was no telling what she'd tell the women inside—if they hadn't heard most of it already.

"You're an asshole," Daryl said. "I'd be ashamed to talk to my wife like that."

"You the sweet one," Merle said. "'Course maybe that's my point."

"You mean you still believe you got one?" Daryl asked. "'Cause I ain't so sure."

"Carol make herself available to you?" Merle asked.

"What?" Daryl asked.

"As your wife, she's got her a duty to make herself available to you," Merle said. "Take care of your needs. You agreed to marry her an' take care of her needs. She's gotta take care of yours. Is she takin' care of your needs, lil' brother? Or she got her a headache or some nonsense like that more times than she don't?"

Daryl laughed to himself.

"We do just fine," Daryl said. "Could be that I don't treat it like a job she's gotta do whether she wants to or not, but she don't never refuse me. In fact? She's the one invitin' me to bed if I'm threatening to stay up too late."

"You ain't noticed no changes?" Merle asked. "Like maybe she just ain't as excited to see you? Maybe she's a little—outta sorts when you get home? Maybe, even, she goes the other way and right now she's treatin' you like you made a' sugar?"

Daryl furrowed his brow at his brother and shrugged his shoulders.

"Carol's Carol," Daryl said. "If she's changed it's 'cause she's been distracted. Wonderin' when we would get to tell people about the baby. Worryin' that people like you might be assholes about it."

"Or she's worried about somethin' else entirely," Merle said.

"You about to that point you got, yet, brother?" Daryl asked.

"My point is that if you an' your wife was havin' your first kid—your first real kid? I'd be happy for you. Damn near ready to tap dance if that's what'cha want brother. You've waited a long time an' you're finally havin' a real kid."

"You know how the hell I feel about you sayin' that the kids ain't real," Daryl pointed out.

"You know what I mean," Merle said.

"I'd prefer it if you was to say what you mean," Daryl said. "Just in case someone else was to overhear that didn't know what'cha meant as good as I do. That's the first thing I gotta say to you. The second is that—well, I don't know if you got cloth for ears, Merle, but the whole reason we invited you here is to tell you that's exactly what we got goin' on! We got us a baby! If you missed the announcement, it's comin' in November."

"The whole time you been wantin' to have a kid, we've knowed that Carol didn't have no trouble havin' a kid," Merle said. "If she did, then she couldn'ta had Sophia. It hurts your damn feelings when I say it, but the point remains that it's always been possible that it was you that weren't man enough to service your wife the way she needed or something. Somethin' sure weren't connectin' there, 'cause she ain't never had you no kid in all these years of tryin' for one."

"We don't know why," Daryl said. "And it don't matter."

"But it do matter," Merle said. "Why now? Why all of a sudden is she up an' pregnant? After all these years, Daryl? Why now is it just somethin' that worked out? She's the same person an' you the same person. The ingredients you've been mixin' together ain't changed. So why is it that now—after all these years—you're tellin' me that there's somethin' baking in the oven?"

"It just took," Daryl said. "Took and stuck. We don't know that she ain't never been pregnant before. We just know she ain't been pregnant long enough to know. Don't know why not, Merle. Maybe it was the medication and the treatments she had to suffer through for them years she was in that place. Maybe it was the trauma. Maybe it was something psychological. The body works in mysterious ways, Merle. Maybe it was just time. Maybe God himself decided it was finally time. We paid off our sins or somethin' and we earned us a blessing."

Merle laughed to himself.

"Are you that damn naïve, boy? Or are you that damn love bit?" Merle asked. Daryl simply furrowed his brow at him. "The only thing that makes sense is that that woman in there? She's come into contact with someone who could give her what the hell she needed to make a baby. She's come into contact with someone who had some damn compatible ingredients. You thought she was home makin' dresses all day long, but she's been makin' a fool outta you is what she's been doin'. And now she's carryin' around some asshole's kid an' you're just gonna look like a brayin' jackass while you run around tellin' everyone it's your kid an' you're so damn excited it's comin' after all these years of y'all never gettin' it right before."

Daryl's heart slammed into his chest. His stomach tightened. For just a second he felt a little dizzy as his brother's accusation settled into him. All he could do, for a few moments, was simply shake his head at his brother.

"No," Daryl said, finally finding his voice. "No. It ain't like that, Merle. Carol—she's faithful to me. Maybe I can see how you could wonder. Maybe I can see how other people might wonder. Maybe they'll even say somethin' about it an' we'll have to set the whole damn town straight, but let me start with settin' you straight. Carol's faithful to me. She wouldn't never...never."

Daryl never did finish saying what Carol would never do, but Merle knew exactly what he was talking about.

He wanted to be mad at his brother, but he couldn't. Merle wasn't yanking him around. He wasn't giving him a hard time. His tone of voice was steady and he wasn't even leaning forward in the swing. There was no smirk on his lips.

Merle wasn't trying to piss him off. He was simply sure that he'd figured out why it was that their baby had taken so long to get there. And maybe he wouldn't be the only one to ask themselves that question and arrive at that same answer.

But they were all wrong.

"Every man that's ever been made a fool of by a woman wanted to believe she weren't that type, brother," Merle said.

"She ain't," Daryl repeated.

"What you think has changed, Daryl? After all these years? If nothin's changed with the two of you—what you think's changed that brought this about? After all this time?"

"God," Daryl said.

"You really believe that?" Merle asked. "That God ain't got nothin' better to do but torture you with wantin' a kid all this time an' then up an' decide to hand it over to you now? Like you waited long enough?"

"Happened in the Bible," Daryl said.

Merle laughed.

"So it did," Merle said. "You think you an' Carol's important enough to be like Bible people?"

"It's possible," Daryl said. "I'd believe it was aliens 'fore I believed that she was runnin' around."

"You don't know this is your kid," Merle said.

"An' you don't know it ain't," Daryl said.

"It ain't fair to you if it she's runnin' around," Merle said.

"It ain't fair to her to accuse her of somethin' that you got no proof of, Merle," Daryl said. "You don't even got a good reason to suspect it. You got nothin' except you don't wanna accept that there might still be some miracles in the world an' maybe one of 'em—just one of 'em—was meant for somebody like me."

"Brother—despite what the hell you might think," Merle said. "I wish you all the damn miracles in the world. Always have. Always wanted the best for you, brother. But I can't be happy that some woman is runnin' around makin' a fool outta my baby brother. Bringin' you nothin' but shame if she is."

"She ain't," Daryl said, swallowing hard. "She ain't. She never has. Carol—she's doin' nothing but being my wife. My faithful, honest...perfect wife. And the mother to my kids. All of 'em. An' now? She's carryin' this lil' baby that's—if you can't answer the question for yourself no other way, Merle, and you gotta have an answer to a question that don't even concern you—then this baby's just a miracle and that's all the hell you gotta think about it as bein'. And if anybody asks your ass? You tell 'em that. You tell 'em this baby is just a miracle. An' if I hear, Merle—if I hear you been sayin' anything else against me or against my wife? I'ma take it personal and then it's gonna be down to me and you."

Merle stared at him. He nodded his head.

"Fine," Merle said. "But I hope you're not just setting yourself up for a world of hurt, brother." 

"I'm not," Daryl assured him.

"We alright?" Merle asked.

Daryl hesitated a moment and nodded his head.

"Long as you remember what I told you," Daryl said. "About you don't say shit about what the hell you dared to think an' you set anybody straight that decides to think the same damn thing."

"Yeah—I heard you," Merle said. "Loud an' clear."

"I want'cha to go back in there," Daryl said. "An' I want'cha to be fuckin' happy for me, Merle. I want'cha to be happy for Carol."

Merle nodded his head.

"If that's what you want," Merle said.

"It's what the hell I want," Daryl said.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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When they came back inside and returned to the table, Daryl found that his place had been cleared. His plate was missing. He didn't have time to ask about his meal, though, before Carol excused herself to the kitchen. Immediately she returned carrying his plate with a dish towel to protect her hands, and she place his food in front of him.

"It was getting cold," Carol explained, "so I warmed it."

Daryl smiled at her. It was a simple gesture to put his plate in the oven to warm it. He would have been fine eating the cool food. He didn't even realize that he wished his food would be warm until Carol brought him the warm plate. But Carol was that kind of wife. She seemed to anticipate what he wanted before he even knew it himself. Daryl caught her hand before she moved away to return to her chair and he squeezed it. She smiled at him and gave him a quick wink.

No matter what Merle or any other asshole around might think, there was no way that Carol was making a fool of him and running around with some other man. She simply wouldn't do that. No woman would look at her husband the way that Carol did—or treat him like she did—and secretly be harboring the huge secret of her affections for another man.

Daryl didn't know why it had taken so long for her to conceive the child that she now carried. Maybe Carol hadn't been ready even though they'd thought she was. Maybe they were simply supposed to have Sophia, June, and Jack—and perhaps even a whole mess of children to come that they hadn't even imagined yet—and they wouldn't have been thinking the children that needed to be adopted if they'd had their own first.

Daryl didn't know why it was that right now was the perfect time, in all their years together, for a little one to be born to them, but it was. It felt perfect.

He might not be able to understand all the reasons that things happened the way they did, but there were a great number of things in the universe that Daryl didn't understand. There were so many things that Daryl didn't even know. But one thing that he did know was that he loved his wife dearly—and she loved him.

Together, they were building the perfect family for the two of them even if it wasn't perfect to anyone else.

Daryl tasted his food as soon as Carol sat in her chair, and he assured both she and Sophia that it was just as good as the first time he'd tasted it.

"Didn't nobody warm my food," Merle pointed out. The look he threw in Andrea's direction made it clear that the admonishment was directed at her.

Andrea looked absolutely unbothered by it.

"You said that your food would be right where you left it," Andrea said. "I wanted to be sure that it was." She smiled somewhat insincerely at her husband. "I only want to make you happy, Merle."

Before any kind of fight could break out between Merle and Andrea, Alice interrupted them by throwing out her own topic of conversation and, essentially, pretending that they weren't even sitting at the table.

"So—Daddy—I asked Mama and she wouldn't tell us anything one way or another," Alice said. "What are you hoping for? Girl or boy?"

Daryl smiled to himself. He felt his face flood warm just at the thought of being asked something like that. It wasn't purely hypothetical. They would have a baby. Boy or girl, they would have one.

"Hadn't really thought about it," Daryl said. He looked at Carol. Her cheeks were pink and she was watching him, a smile on her lips. "I guess—I mean I got two girls and I love 'em both enough I wouldn't mind more of that. But—love Jack too an' we're kinda outnumbered as it is." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have an answer, but we haven't really had the time to sit down and talk about it. I guess it don't matter anyway. It'll be whatever it's gonna be."

"If it's a Dixon," Merle said, "it'll be a boy."

Daryl felt the odd sensation that he'd only felt a few times in his life. His whole body felt a little distant from him for a moment. He almost felt numb to himself. His vision darkened a little as his blood pressure immediately responded. Then, slowly, he managed to calm himself down.

Nobody else seemed to have even noticed the words that Merle slipped into his statement. They were still sitting and waiting for Daryl to say something more about what he wanted.

"It's a Dixon, alright," Daryl said. "But that don't mean it'll be a boy. Got just as good a chance of gettin' a girl."

"If it's a Dixon you don't," Merle said. "Dixon men have Dixon men. That's all there's ever been."

"As far back as you know, Merle," Daryl responded. "Which don't take us too damn far 'cause we just know we was both boys an' we don't know nothin' about nothin' when it comes to our old man."

"We know we were both boys," Merle pointed out. "We got no proof the old man didn't just have brothers. Andrea an' me ain't had nothin' but boys."

"The fact that you an' Andrea ain't had nothin' but boys don't mean a thing, Merle," Daryl said, his frustration growing. "I can flip a damn penny twenty times an' get nothin' but heads. But it don't mean that the penny don't got a tails side an' that I didn't have just as good a' chance of gettin' tails later. Don't mean the damn twenty-first time I flip the penny I don't get tails!"

"Cake?" Alice said suddenly and loudly. "Did—Sophia? Did you say something about cake?"

Daryl realized, then, that he was breathing hard. He realized he'd been talking far louder than he meant to speak. He realized that Carol had her hand wrapped tight around his arm. She was clinging to him like he might simply fly off or something and disappear. She was holding onto him like she intended to anchor him there if that should threaten to happen.

And Merle just sat there with a smug ass expression on his face that made Daryl's blood boil.

Sophia came with the cake and Alice brought the coffee before Daryl even realized that they'd left the table. Somehow his plate had been cleared away. He didn't know where it had gone, who had taken it, or how long it had been since they'd left with it. His head ached a little with his blood pressure and he did his best to mutter a thanks to Sophia as she put a slice of cake in front of him while Carol poured him a cup of coffee.

"Sophia made this cake all by herself," Carol said. "She wouldn't even let me help put the strawberries on."

"It's a pretty cake," Daryl said, trying to force himself to calm down. "Gonna taste real good."

His heart was still pounding in his chest. His breathing wasn't entirely under control. He couldn't look in the direction of his brother because even catching a glimpse of him made Daryl want to leap across the table and choke him until there wasn't breath left in his body.

"Daddy picked the cake," Sophia offered. "We told him he could have whatever he wanted, but he always picks strawberry."

"It's his favorite," Carol said.

"The cake's pink," Melodye pointed out. "Maybe that's Daryl's way of saying he'd like a little girl and maybe he doesn't even know it yet."

"If it's a girl, that'll be somethin'," Merle mused.

Daryl hit his feet before he could stop himself. He slammed his hands down on the table without thinking. Several of his guests jumped and everything on the table rattled.

"Daryl," Carol said softly. Daryl held his hand up in her direction and shook his head.

"Don't," he said. "Not right now."

Carol heeded his warning, probably because he couldn't even remember the last time he'd told her, quite that sincerely, that he didn't want her to do something. He looked at Andrea. It wasn't her fault. She'd be overjoyed for Carol. She'd be thrilled for her. Boy or girl or something entirely unknown to Earth and Andrea would still be happy for them both.

She suffered enough just being married to Merle. Yet that condition was something she continuously had to suffer for.

"Andrea—you welcome to stay. Eat. Talk with everyone. I know Carol'd love to talk about babies with you 'cause you sure got more experience than anybody else here does. I'll run you home. Make sure you get there. But—Merle?" Daryl turned his attention toward his brother and balled his fists up. "You gotta get the hell outta my house. You ain't welcome to stay at this table no more."

Merle laughed to himself.

"You gotta be jokin'," Merle said.

"Strike me dead if I am," Daryl responded.

"What's going on?" Carol asked.

"What happened?" Andrea asked.

Daryl shook his head for both women to simply keep their mouths shut.

"What happened, brother?" Merle asked with a smirk.

"You know what the hell happened," Daryl said. "Ain't no need to talk about it. I won't hear you talkin' about it under my roof. It's time for you to go, Merle. There ain't nothin' else that nobody's got to say to you today."

Merle hummed to himself and stood up. He made a dramatic show of dragging his finger through the icing on the slice of cake that he'd been served and tasted it. He grunted his approval.

"You done good, Sophia," Merle said.

He wiped his finger on his napkin and somewhat dramatically flung the napkin at the table. Daryl didn't care at this point if Merle was pissed off. He didn't care if everyone was staring. He didn't care about what everyone was thinking. As far as he was concerned, Merle had ruined the whole damn thing for him and, just maybe, he could salvage something of the evening they had planned if he got his brother out of his sight.

But one more snide ass comment from his brother, and Daryl wasn't sure that he wouldn't fully ruin the rest of the evening for everyone. It was better this way.

"Andrea—let's go," Merle said.

"She can stay," Daryl said.

"No, she can't," Merle responded.

Andrea got up from her spot. She didn't say anything to Merle. Instead she quickly offered a hug to Alice and one to Melodye, begging each of the women to stay in their chairs, and then she offered a hug to Carol and Sophia both. She didn't even flinch when Merle called her name, trying to hurry her up, and she offered Daryl a hug that he could barely return before she gave a wish of congratulations to both Carol and Daryl and walked to the door to make it clear to Merle that she was coming just as quickly as she intended to move.

"Carol," Merle said. "Daryl. Congratulations. "Soph, Mel, Al? Goodnight to you all. It seems we'll be takin' our leave now."

Daryl didn't see his brother out. He stood, fists clenched, until the door closed behind Andrea and Merle both. He stood staring at the closed door for a moment, half expecting it to open again for Merle to say something else.

Daryl glanced around him at the table. They were all staring at him. Carol, Sophia, Melodye, and Alice were all staring at him. None of them really knew what was going on. Merle was being Merle and, unfortunately, most people had come to expect him to behave a certain way. Maybe even Daryl had come to accept his typical behavior, but he couldn't tonight.

Tonight was supposed to be special. It was supposed to be a supper that was all about celebrating the new life that was coming into their family.

Merle had ruined that for Daryl, and it was just too much for Daryl to take at the moment.

"You'll excuse me," he said. He started to leave the table and Carol caught his hand, tugging at it.

"Daryl," she said.

"I just need to be excused a minute," Daryl said. "Please—y'all eat the cake. Drink the coffee. Talk. Talk about the baby, OK? I'm sorry for...I'm just sorry. I just need to be excused. Just—for a minute."

Carol let go of his arm and Daryl let himself out of the room to go to the bathroom, wash his face, and do his best to simply settle down to begin again.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl looked up when he heard the bedroom door open after a quiet knocking there.

"I'm coming," Daryl assured Carol when she stepped into the bedroom wearing a deeply concerned look on her face that made it appear that her eyebrows might very well be at risk of meeting and knotting together. "I just need a minute."

"There's no hurry," Carol assured him. "I sent Melodye and Alice home with some cake."

Daryl's stomach clench and his throat tightened, even though it was already feeling scratchy and painful.

"I ruined your meal," Daryl said. "I ruined it for you an' Sophia."

"You didn't ruin anything for anyone," Carol said. "And there will be other meals for all of us."

"I ruined it by bein' born into the same damned family as that asshole," Daryl responded.

Carol crossed the room and stood in front of Daryl as he sat on the bed. She wrapped herself around him and pulled him to her in a hug.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Carol asked.

"Not really," Daryl said.

"I wish you would," Carol urged.

"Not too damn much to tell that you don't already know. Merle's an asshole and he can't even keep that shit under his hat long enough to eat one meal," Daryl said.

Carol sighed and sat down on the bed next to Daryl. She reached over and took his hand in hers. She ran her fingers along his, entertaining herself by simply touching her skin gently against his. She studied their hands for a moment before she bothered speaking.

"We've known Merle was an asshole for as long as—well, for as long as I can remember anything," Carol said. "I don't think there's been one happy moment of our lives together that Merle hasn't seemed to find some way to taint with his behavior. But it's never stopped us from enjoying things before. What happened this time to get to you so much?"

Daryl swallowed.

"I don't wanna say it," Daryl said.

"Why not?" Carol asked. "I thought we didn't hide things from one another."

"This is different," Daryl said. "It's one of the nastiest things he could say. There ain't no good that can come of sharin' it."

"Except that you get it off your chest," Carol said. "And we carry it together." She laughed to herself. "Everything is lighter if we carry it together. Isn't that the way it goes?"

"I don't even wanna hurt you with what the hell he says," Daryl said.

"Merle can't hurt me," Carol said. "Not really. And—if he hurts my feelings? They'll heal. Because, at the end of the day, Merle Dixon doesn't mean anything more to me than you want him to mean. He's not my husband. His opinion doesn't really matter to me. But you? What you're going through? Daryl—that matters to me very much. Talk to me?"

Daryl sighed.

"I want'cha to know that what I say is his words, you hear? They come from him. They ain't mine. Only reason they comin' outta my mouth is 'cause you asked me to repeat what he said," Daryl said. "You understand? I don't want you to take nothin' to heart or think these are my words."

"I understand," Carol said.

Daryl licked his lips.

"Asshole said that—it was suspicious that you turned up pregnant after all these years of trying," Daryl said. "We always knew you'd gotten pregnant before so we knew you had the potential to get pregnant again. Even the doctors, you know, said you could get pregnant again. There was no physical reason they could find that you weren't carryin' a baby."

"I remember," Carol said, a soft smile playing at her lips. "I was there when they said that I should be able to have a baby. But I never could."

"So we all kinda started to figure it was me," Daryl said. "Weren't no proof that I could have a kid. Ain't none of mine biological at least."

"I never believed that," Carol said. "I never thought it was you. I always believed it was me."

"Point is, Merle believed it was me," Daryl said. "An' he still does. Finds it suspicious that you turn up pregnant now after all these years. Basically says that if we were being together all this time with the potential to make a baby, we'd have made one before now. Says that you bein' pregnant means there's a good chance that somethin' else has come into the mix."

Carol looked at him with question on her face, but she showed relatively little other emotion. When he didn't immediately continue speaking, she shook her head at him.

"I don't know if I understand what you mean," Carol said.

"He thinks that if it's me that's caused it all this time, and if it's now that you're comin' up pregnant, then it just means that it had to be someone else to make the baby with you," Daryl said. "In short—Merle's sayin' that it looks like you been makin' a fool of me with someone else and that's how you ended up pregnant."

"You can't believe that," Carol said quickly.

"Told you these was his words and not mine," Daryl said.

Carol nodded.

"You did," Carol said. "But now that he's said them, I have to ask you if you believe them."

Daryl shook his head.

"I can't believe you'd be with another man," Daryl said. "I can't believe you'd do that to me."

Carol laughed to herself.

"I wouldn't," Carol said. "The only men I even see regularly are you. Merle. Dr. James sometimes and Phil, the butcher." She laughed to herself. "Mr. Greene when he comes for Miss Josephine. Who would I be having an affair with, Daryl?"

"I would hope nobody," Daryl said. "But it weren't me that thought it up. I don't know who the hell Merle is sayin' could be creeping around my house while I'm at work."

Carol leaned and pressed her lips to Daryl's cheek while she squeezed his hand in her own. She ghosted her lips close to Daryl's ear and he shivered at the feeling of her breath and the gentle brush of her lips there. The shiver ran through his whole body and he was a little ashamed at the fact that he could feel that something so simple stirred up an interest in how they might spend the evening if Sophia weren't waiting for them in the other room.

"I have never been with another man since we've been married," Carol said quietly, her lips close to his ear. "I never will. I don't know why my prayers went unanswered for so long. I've asked myself that question a million times since we married. But what I do know is that my prayers finally got answered, Daryl. They got answered and—Daryl?"

Daryl swallowed. His throat was dry.

"Mmmm?" He hummed at Carol.

He heard her laugh quietly and she leaned against him, rubbing her face against the side of his face affectionately before she repositioned her lips at his ear once more.

"This is your baby. I'm expecting it and—it's your baby."

Daryl moved away from her so that he could look at her.

Her face was perfect. She'd been teasing him, hoping to stir him up, and in the process she'd somewhat embarrassed herself. Her cheeks wore the blush of her teasing. Her lips wore the smile, still frozen there, from realizing the effect that she was having on him. She was always pleased when she could have a strong effect on him.

She looked happy. No matter what his asshole brother had said and no matter how badly he'd ruined her dinner, she looked happy. And Daryl's chest tightened up at the thought of it. He wanted her to be happy. It was one thing that he always wanted.

He loved her. God, how he loved her. And it was absolutely his baby that she was carrying.

"I'm sorry about what the hell happened," Daryl said. "About the dinner. Sophia worked so hard on it and you were so lookin' forward to it. It was supposed to be your time to tell everybody an' just—roll around in your congratulations. I ruined the whole damn thing."

Carol laughed.

"If anybody ruined it," Carol said, "Merle did. But—I did get some congratulations. Andrea and Alice and Melodye congratulated me. All of them. And we've still got cake and coffee to enjoy with Sophia. We'll just warm the coffee up a touch and it'll be as good as new."

"Still—it weren't what you planned it to be," Daryl said.

"Very little in my life has been," Carol said. "But some of the best things in my life weren't planned—including this baby."

"You was so lookin' forward to tellin' everybody," Daryl said.

"I still am," Carol said. "We've still got the whole town to tell, Daryl. We can still go down to the store together and tell everyone we see. We can tell everyone at church. We'll come up with a reason to bring the baby up everywhere we go until there's nobody left in town that doesn't know how happy we are about it."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"If it'll make you happy? I'll walk from one end of this town to the other with you. We'll stop everybody we see. Tell 'em that you're havin' my baby and I'm proud enough to crow about it."

"When?" Carol asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Tomorrow," Daryl said. "We'll make a day of it. Take the kids."

Carol laughed.

"I wouldn't really want to do that," Carol said, "but I do want to start telling people. I want to—have the chance to finally casually mention it at church. Bring it up in the produce aisle when someone is droning on over their children. I want the chance to tell Pru all about our fourth little one to come."

"Then you do it," Daryl said. "Whenever you want and however you want. Ain't nobody gonna stop you now. It's your news to share as you want."

"What about Merle?" Carol asked.

"What about Merle?" Daryl asked. "I meant what I said today. He ain't welcome in my house. Not until he can straighten up. I'm expecting some sort of apology, too, 'fore he comes back around my family."

Carol nodded her head.

"And you should get your apology," Carol said. "It was wrong of him to say that to you. And it was wrong of him to say it at your home and at your dinner—our dinner—to announce our baby to the family. But the truth of the matter is that—what he said wasn't wrong, Daryl."

Daryl furrowed his brow at her.

"What do you mean he weren't wrong?" Daryl said.

"He was wrong about me having an affair," Carol said. "He was wrong about there being another man involved. But he wasn't wrong that it's taken us a very long time for this little miracle to come to be. And there are bound to be other people in town who think just like Merle thinks. There are bound to be other people that suspect there has to be something going on here. You know how people talk, Daryl. It's just a matter of time before we're hearing rumors flying about the fact that—that this baby belongs to any number of people and we're just covering it up by pretending that it's yours."

Daryl swallowed. He nodded his head. His stomach twisted a little at the thought.

"I already thought about that," Daryl said.

"We can't tell everyone to go away and leave us alone," Carol said. "So—how do we handle that?"

Daryl sighed.

"We handle it the same damn way we've handled everything else," Daryl said. "We don't pay them no attention. If anybody asks, we'll tell them the truth. We don't know why it was now that the baby was given to us, but that doesn't make it any less a blessing for us."

Carol smiled at him.

"I don't want you to be upset every time they say something," Carol offered.

Daryl laughed to himself. He reached his hand out and touched her face. She leaned her cheek into him.

"I could say the same for you," Daryl said. "I've seen you upset plenty over what people in this town have had to say. I don't wanna see you hurt no more."

"It's different now," Carol said.

"How so?" Daryl asked.

Carol shrugged her shoulders.

"I really don't know. I would have thought it would hurt my feelings but, now that I'm thinking about it? I'm not so sure that it will bother me at all. I have my family," she said. "I love my husband. I know—he at least seems pretty happy with me." She smiled at Daryl, not missing an opportunity to tease him a little more. "I have three children that I love more than life itself. Now I'm expecting the baby I've been praying for since—it feels like forever. I guess it just feels like I don't care anymore what they say. It's just not important. What is important is that I don't want anyone—not even Merle—saying things that will upset you."

Daryl laughed to himself. He leaned forward and kissed Carol. She smiled at him when he broke away from her and he couldn't help but "catch" the contagious expression.

"If it don't hurt you, then it won't hurt me," Daryl said. "We'll figure it out like we always do. What's important isn't what they say, it's what we know. And what I know is that—we're adding on to our family. We're havin' a baby."

"Maybe it'll look just like you," Carol said. "And remove anyone's doubt."

"I hope it looks just like you," Daryl said. "It deserves to be a good lookin' kid."

"Can we have that strawberry cake now?" Carol asked. "It won't be that much longer before the Greenes get here with the children."

"I got a better idea," Daryl said. "Let's go call 'em up. Save the cake an' share it with them. What do you say? I'm sure Miss Josephine would like the chance to formally congratulate you again without you feelin' like she had to just snatch it right back away from you."

"I'd like that," Carol said. "And I'd accept her congratulations again if she wanted to give it."

"I'll give 'em a call. I got a good feelin' they'll be happy for the chance," Daryl said.

"I'll go start the cleaning. That way there's less to do when we're done," Carol said.

Daryl kissed her again before he let her get up and leave the room. He followed just a few steps behind her to make the call.

Merle could say what he wanted. The whole damn town could say what they wanted. It didn't matter. At the end of the day, all that mattered was what Carol and Daryl knew to be true—and that was that their family was simply being blessed, even more than they already were, by their new and unexpected arrival.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **Things have been crazy lately. I've moved a couple of times, changed jobs, and been doing some training. I'm hoping things are calming down now and I can start to build a routine again. I'm a little out of practice writing, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things there, too. Thanks for bearing with me!**

 **I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!**

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"Carol, I think I can say this without offending my bride. Your strawberry cake remains the best I've ever had," Hershel Greene said. He wiped his mouth with his napkin and returned the napkin to the table before he picked up his coffee cup and drank half its contents in long swallows. The cup barely had time to touch down on the table once more before Josephine picked up the coffee pot and refilled the mug for him.

"It was really Sophia that made the cake," Carol said.

"Then she got her baking skills from her mother," Hershel said. "Sophia—you've outdone yourself. Half a dozen of the ladies at church would give up their darkest family secrets to be able to make a cake that tastes that good."

Sophia beamed and her cheeks burned red.

"It was Mama that helped me make it," she offered.

"Nonsense," Carol said. She stood up from her seat enough to reach the cake knife and she waved her hand toward Hershel to request his plate.

"You'll have another piece," she insisted.

"I couldn't," Hershel responded.

Carol waved her fingers at him, not allowing him to refuse the cake that he clearly wanted.

"One more piece," Carol insisted.

"I'll eat the whole thing if you don't," Daryl said. "And that won't be good for none of us. Have another piece a' cake."

It took very little convincing before Hershel passed over his plate and Carol served him another slice of cake. Without asking him if he wanted it, Carol took Daryl's plate and placed another slice there for him. He offered her a smile, a slight nod of the head, and a wink—all three constituting a thank you that Carol valued more than the two words.

She settled back in her seat with a sigh and sipped her own coffee.

Jack and June were asleep. They'd come in half asleep from the Greene's house and Josephine had helped Carol get them tucked in while Daryl and Hershel had shared cigars on the porch swing. Now they were all enjoying cake and coffee with Sophia. The evening had turned out peaceful after all, despite her brother-in-law's best efforts to make it less so.

"I believe I can also say—now and without feeling as though I'm only doing it from some sort of obligation—that I owe you a congratulations," Hershel said after he'd taken a few bites of his second piece of cake.

"Oh yes!" Josephine echoed. "Congratulations. Though I've told you before."

"And took it back," Daryl said.

"Daryl..." Carol said quietly.

"It ain't no untruth," Daryl said. "She give it an' she took it away. Just like that."

Rather than be offended, Josephine laughed to herself.

"I hardly took away my congratulations," she said. "But—I suppose that I can see how you might have taken it that way. Call me old fashioned, but I was raised that you didn't announce that you were expecting too soon. It's bad luck."

"That's an old wives' tale," Hershel offered.

"And I'm an old wife," Josephine responded.

"It doesn't matter," Carol said. "What matters is that the two of you came to celebrate with us. That's all that matters."

"And we're ready to tell everyone," Daryl said. "Gonna start tellin' anybody that listens tomorrow, even if we gotta come up with a reason to go into town to do it. But—we'd appreciate it if you'd hold off sharin' our good news a couple days so we can get the chance to tell it out first. 'Fore it comes back to us an' all."

"We wouldn't dream of stealing your thunder," Hershel remarked. He polished off the piece of cake that he was eating and Carol gestured toward the cake once more to see if he might want another piece. He shook his head at her and she believed him this time—or rather she believed Josephine's expression that said that Hershel was finished. Hershel, for his part, might have continued to eat the cake for the rest of the night.

"We really do wish you the best," Josephine said. "Sophia...June...Jack...they're all so lovely. Why I've told Hershel before that if the rest of the kids around here were even half as polite and well-behaved...well...I don't even know." She laughed to herself. "But they're not. You two know how to raise 'em right. You raise your children well. And that's something to be proud of. No doubt that's why you've been blessed with so many—and I hope there's so many more to come."

Carol couldn't help but smile at the praise that the old woman heaped on her. It burned pleasantly warm in her belly to hear the approval of her parenting skills from Josephine Greene.

Many of the thoughts that Carol had surrounding motherhood were that she was always a less-than-wonderful mother. She loved her children dearly, and she loved them with every fiber of her being, but she was far from perfect. There were times that she was tired and short. She gave them less attention than she was sure they needed and she felt like she'd failed Sophia on so many levels that she often told herself that it was no wonder that God had never seen fit to let her bear another. She always hated that Daryl was punished, though, as a result of her actions and her shortcomings. When she was feeling particularly negative, Carol wondered why the county made the mistakes it made in granting her the right to mother Jack and June. Sometimes she imagined an officer coming to her door to take them away—Sophia as well, even though she was a legal adult now and couldn't be taken by the court—because they realized that a grave mistake had been made and that Carol had never been a proper choice for a mother.

But the warm feeling in her belly right now didn't allow for those kinds of feelings to even find a way to temporarily push themselves into her mind.

She was a good mother. Her children were good children. She raised them right. Daryl was an excellent father, but she was a good mother, too. She helped Sophia bake strawberry cakes and she made her dresses and clothes that everyone in town talked about. Sophia was doing well at college and June was smart—smarter than most any child her age. Jack was still a baby, but he was bound to be clever, and he was such a sweet little boy.

And God had finally seen fit to grant Carol the child she'd prayed for. She was finally ready.

She was certain that her loyalties were going to come into question more than once—Merle Dixon wasn't going to be the only person who accused her of making a fool of Daryl—but it didn't matter. She knew the truth. Daryl knew the truth.

And no matter what lies anybody said about her, their family was still growing.

"We've said we'll take as many as God sees fit to grant us," Carol said. "But—for the moment I'm focusing my attention on what we have. Sophia doesn't really need us anymore but..." Carol smiled at Sophia when she reached over and hugged Carol sideways, pulling her into her. It was true. Sophia was grown and she didn't need them, but she still enjoyed them and they enjoyed her. Carol would mother her for as long as she allowed. "But we're focusing on June and Jack. Taking care of them. And this little one. Helping it grow. We want to do everything right. I want to do everything just as I should to give it the best chance starting out."

"And you will," Josephine assured her. "I can help you. I've done it myself four times. I can tell you how to care for yourself better than most of these doctors around here can."

"And I—well...I can tell you whatever you might need to know, son," Hershel said, catching Daryl's attention. "But the main thing I can tell you is that it's best to learn when woman's talk doesn't involve you. What do you say we take what's left of this coffee and use it to wash down a pipe or two? It's a nice evening."

Daryl didn't need much convincing and Carol nodded at him when he glanced in her direction. He would enjoy himself better on the porch and "woman's talk," as Hershel Greene put it, was always more enjoyable when there wasn't an audience around to judge what was being said.

"Miss Josephine—let me make us a fresh pot of coffee," Carol said. "There are some things I'd like to ask your advice on."

And just like that, Daryl took his leave with Hershel, accepting Carol's unspoken excusal from the table.

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"It wouldn't hurt so bad except he's my brother, you know? It's like—somethin' that's had me down on my knees prayin' more times than I wanna admit. That somethin' is finally goin' my way. My wife's carrying my kid. Her doctor says she's the healthiest woman he's seein' right now. I mean—I'm not a man that gets giddy or anything like that, but I was damn near wishin' I knew how to click my heels together like..." Daryl stopped speaking and laughed at his own words. He shook his head. "Man—I don't know. Click my heels together like Bing Crosby or something like that. I just wasn't prepared for him to come here and say that to me when I wanted him to be happy. Wanted everyone to be happy. Just—you know. Just for a little while."

Hershel Greene hummed at Daryl from around the pipe that he was smoking. Daryl preferred cigarettes, but he enjoyed a pipe from time to time. A good cigar wasn't anything he'd turn his nose up at either. Daryl smoked his cigarettes while Hershel smoked his pipe, but it was really the company that they were both enjoying the most.

And Daryl wanted Carol to have a little time inside with Josephine Greene. He had no idea what they were talking about exactly, but they were talking about babies and they were doing it in the best way possible. Daryl wanted Carol to have the opportunity to soak all of that up that she could possibly get.

"He didn't have a right to say that to you," Hershel mused. "But—people have a tendency to say a good number of things about which they have no business talking."

"At least you two was willin' to come for cake and coffee," Daryl said. "Savin' graces if you ask me. Give some good to this night. At least—at least we know somebody's wishin' us luck."

Hershel laughed quietly. He rocked the swing they were sharing with his foot.

"When you first married Carol, I have to admit—I questioned your motives. I questioned everything about your relationship. It was only natural—given the circumstances."

"Everybody questioned everything about me," Daryl said. "Figured I was a son-of-a-bitch. Taking advantage of her. Truth is—maybe I did take advantage. I don't know. I didn't think I was takin' advantage, but sometimes we give ourselves a pass that we wouldn't see clear to give to someone else."

"I don't think you took advantage," Hershel said. "Not now. Of course, I wasn't witness to every aspect of your relationship. When you first brought home Sophia—I thought that it might be the worst idea ever. I thought that maybe Carol couldn't handle it. Maybe it was just a selfish move on your part. Some effort to make yourself a father without considering the repercussions that it might have."

"You weren't alone," Daryl said.

"I wasn't," Hershel confirmed. "But it turned out to be a beautiful thing. Good for the both of 'em. And then you brought home June—and I thought...for sure it was just torture to give Carol another child and to remind her that you had none born to you when everyone knew she wanted it so badly. I thought it would be salt into her wounds, so to speak."

"Just more selfish bullshit from me," Daryl said.

"The point is that I was wrong," Hershel said. "Every time—whether I gave voice to what I was thinking or not—I was wrong. I judged. Just as we're told not to do. I judged."

"Don't everybody?"

"And I was wrong," Hershel said. "You and Carol—you're as perfect a married couple as any I've ever seen. You could speak to the newlyweds at the church if you wanted to. Tell them the secrets they come seeking about how to be married—how to make a marriage work. If there are any secrets, it's the two of you that have figured them out. Your children? Well—I love my grandchildren as much as any Papa should, but if only they were as well behaved as your little ones we could keep them more often. And this baby? It's a real blessing. An absolute miracle. You couldn't convince me otherwise. Hand-chosen by God for the two of you. To bless this household. This family."

Daryl laughed to himself. His stomach knotted up a little.

"But I'm sensing a 'but' in there," Daryl said.

"But—your brother may not be the only one who looks at your marriage and...well...maybe they feel just a little jealous about the fact that it's better than their own. Maybe they feel a little insecure. It could be a case of a splinter in your brother's eye and such. They feel the need to say something."

"It don't matter what they say," Daryl said.

"That's precisely my point," Hershel said. "Because whatever they say, they'll be wrong. Just remember that. And—if you can see a way clear to forgive me for the things that I've thought through the years, then maybe you can see a way to forgive them. And your brother."

"He can't even say he's sorry," Daryl pointed out.

"Some men find those two words to be the hardest ones to pronounce," Hershel said. He hummed to himself. "They're right up there with declarations of love. They come out sounding like just about anything else. Maybe even...sometimes...they come out sounding like someone saying they don't want a family member to be treated poorly or taken advantage of."

"You takin' his side?" Daryl asked.

Hershel laughed to himself.

"Not hardly," Hershel said. "I'm taking the side of peace and of family. That's what we're here to celebrate, isn't it? Family?"

"But Carol didn't make a fool of me," Daryl said. "And she didn't treat me poorly or take advantage of me."

"Oh—I have no doubt about that," Hershel agreed. "I've been wrong a great deal about what goes on in this household, but I know that's not something I'm wrong about."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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"Get outta that car, woman, or I'll drag you out!" Daryl declared. "The kids'll love to see that."

His voice cracked at the end of his declaration. He could barely hold it together and it made Carol laugh in response. He had the day off and he'd been doing things in town for the earliest hours of the morning while Carol had been at home with the kids. He'd come back to the house and told Carol that they had to go to the grocery store and they had to go right away. It wasn't up for negotiation. He'd found the sweet spot of the day, and it was the moment when it seemed as though most of the town was out procuring food for the week.

"We don't even need anything, Daryl," Carol said. "This is silly."

"I don't care if we spend an hour in there and come out with a can of corn," Daryl said. "We're goin' in. It's all I've heard since we found out that baby was even in there—so we're going in there to start cashin' in on our congratulations. Besides—as soon as I seen that damned Cadillac? I knew it. We had to go in. We gotta get in there 'fore she gets whatever the hell she's here for an' gets out. Get outta the car, Carol. You ain't too big for me to throw you over my shoulder and carry you in. But I can assure that nobody's gonna think that's proper. Gonna be hard for me to handle you an' the kids...but if I gotta do it..."

Carol laughed to herself and offered Daryl her hand. He helped her out of the car and he freed Jack and June from their seats. He closed the doors on the car and Carol took June's hand and reminded her that if she was on her best behavior, she'd get a treat when they got home. Daryl propped Jack up on one hip and then he dropped his arm around Carol. He steered her toward the store, arm around her shoulders, like they were going on a date instead of going to the grocery with their youngest children.

And Carol let him do it because it made him happy, and it made her happy to make him happy.

Jack went into the front of the shopping cart and June went into the back. Daryl pushed the cart because he had created his own rule that, when the two of them shopped together, that was his job.

"Maybe I could get some fresh bread," Carol offered.

Daryl hummed at her.

"And some of them real thin pork chops like we had. I liked them," Daryl said.

"We had those two days ago, Daryl," Carol said. "You really want pork chops again?"

He looked at her out the side of his eye and raised his eyebrow at her.

"Are you criticizin' my choice of food?" Daryl asked.

Carol laughed to herself.

"We'll have pork chops," she said. "And brussel sprouts."

"Had them two days ago," Daryl said. "And if I ain't mistaken, you ate some of 'em for leftovers last night. They were just swimming in vinegar."

"Now are you criticizing my food choices?" Carol challenged.

"Just wonderin' where you got this newfound love of brussel sprouts," Daryl said with a laugh. "You ain't never hated 'em, but you ain't never showed no interest in eatin' 'em ten times a day, neither."

Daryl caught Carol's arm and surprised her just as she was settling in to examine the produce. She jumped and he quietly apologized for startling her. She didn't even have time to see what he'd seen or to put down the apple she was holding in her hand before he'd dragged her with him—doing his best to steer the cart with one hand—toward whatever prize he'd set his sights on.

It was Pru.

And Carol's stomach dropped to her feet at the sight of the woman. Without any explanation, her knees got a little shaky and her heart pounded in her chest. Carol actually tried to turn and go in the other direction, but Daryl's strong hold on her arm prevented that from happening.

Before Carol could verbally protest and beg Daryl to abort his mission, Daryl had loudly called out the woman's name like they were close friends and he was tickled pink to "bump" into her so accidentally while out shopping. He certainly wasn't announcing that he'd driven by and specifically looked for her Cadillac before he'd gone home to gather up his wife and children for an impromptu trip to the store.

Pru looked confused, but of course she had every reason to feel that way. It wasn't like Daryl regularly sought her out in public, and Carol had been known to regularly duck down aisles just to avoid the woman. Out of her brood of nearly as many children as Merle and Andrea had, only three of her smallest ones trailed around in her vicinity. She looked up from talking to one of them when Daryl called out to her and she offered him a smile that looked strained.

"Daryl," Pru said. "Carol." She sounded more like she was identifying them than greeting them.

"I guess Walt's at home?" Daryl asked.

"Well—yes..." Pru said, still looking like she couldn't be more surprised if a rabid dog had run into the store from off the street and bitten her.

"Figured with retirement he might be out with you," Daryl said.

"Walt prefers not to buy the groceries," Pru said.

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Yeah, I can see that," Daryl said. "Me—I don't mind it. Just about anything'll do if I'm spendin' that time with Carol an' the kids. You 'member our lil' ones, don't you? June an' this is Jack."

Pru looked at Carol and Carol averted her eyes to focus on Jack for a moment. He was looking at her, and calling "Mama" at her. He didn't really need anything. He was more interested in seeing if he could get Carol's attention with the sound. It worked every time, and she was thankful to have something to look at besides Pru's confusion.

Maybe it was supposed to be Carol's moment, but it felt more like Daryl's. He'd pretend it was all for her, of course, but she wanted him to have this.

"Of course," Pru said. "Of course. Jack and..."

"And June," Daryl supplied when Pru had clearly forgotten June's name.

Pru smiled at him.

"I've always told Walt it was so kind of you to adopt so many. And treat them like your own."

Carol's stomach rolled at the words. It was the first time she'd had such a visceral reaction to something she'd heard enough times that her ears had almost stopped hearing it entirely. For just a moment, she wondered if she might lose the contents of her stomach right there in the middle of the store and end their little shopping trip rather abruptly. She swallowed down against the wave of nausea.

Perhaps her youngest—about to be announced to the world—wasn't fond of the judgment of strangers. Maybe he or she was already sensitive to that sort of thing.

Or maybe Carol's stomach was simply responding dramatically to things these days.

She'd missed the bit of conversation that must have followed Pru's words, because she only came back into herself when Daryl brushed her cheek with his finger. She looked at him and offered him a smile.

"You OK?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Carol said.

"You look a little pale, dear," Pru offered. There was genuine concern in her voice. It wasn't something that Carol was accustomed to hearing from Pru. "Are you feeling well?"

"You feelin' OK?" Daryl reiterated.

Carol swallowed again. And she swallowed once more for good measure. And then Daryl's expression changed. He raised his eyebrows.

"Gotta go now?" He asked.

Carol swallowed again and shook her head.

"No," she said. "I'm fine."

"But we'd do good to pick up some soda crackers and lemonade," Daryl said. "Just in case."

Carol nodded.

"It might be a good idea," she said.

Pru was watching them like they were the most interesting thing she'd seen. One thing about telling one of the greatest gossips of the town their news was that they guaranteed that it would spread far and wide. They weren't likely to make it out of the store before the whole town knew about their impending arrival—and Carol's close brush with soiling the floors of the market.

Daryl put his arm around Carol's shoulder and slid his hand up to squeeze at her neck. Oddly enough, the movement helped the sensation she was feeling to calm itself once more.

Daryl smiled at Pru and raised his eyebrows.

"This lil' one don't hardly let her have a day's peace," Daryl said. "Everybody said it would just be in the mornings, but the lil' one's got other ideas. Whenever it pleases..." Daryl stopped and cleared his throat. "But then I don't know if you knowed we were expecting."

Carol's nausea felt better because her brain couldn't hold onto the sensation well while she struggled against laughing at Pru's expression. The woman's lower jaw actually dropped and her eyes went wide. It made her look very much like the fish at the fish market that laid up on the ice on display.

"You mean you're—going to adopt again?" Pru asked.

Daryl cleared his throat again. He raised his voice, this time. He was either doing it to suggest that Pru might be hard of hearing, or he was doing it in the hopes of drawing the attention of a few other grocery patrons when he spoke.

"I mean we're expecting," Daryl said. "Mean to say—Carol's expecting. My wife—she's with child, as they say."

Pru's fish-expression didn't change. She looked at Carol. Carol wasn't feeling a hundred percent well, but she was feeling a little better. She forced the best smile she could at Pru.

"We were quite surprised," Carol assured her. "But the baby's healthy. And I'm healthy."

"Well that really is something," Pru said. She took a long moment to change her expression. "That is something..." Behind her, one of her youngest was dismantling a display. Daryl watched the child, but he didn't say anything to Pru. She certainly didn't seem to notice that the boy was getting out of hand. "I mean—I never would've thought...You've had such poor luck in the past. We've talked about it, you know, about how what poor luck you've had. We've prayed for you in my Sunday school class."

"And it musta worked," Daryl said. "'Cause we sure do got us a lil' one on the way. Of course—we'll be tellin' everybody else at church. We'll want them to know. I know you ladies are always doin' little socials and such for the expectant mothers..."

Daryl squeezed Carol's neck. She bit her lip not to laugh. He was growing frustrated. They'd come here for Carol—and that's what Daryl would say—but he was growing frustrated. Like a child who had waited too long for a promised prize, it was Daryl who was coveting his congratulations and Pru hadn't given it yet. Carol could literally feel his frustration growing as his fingers worked her neck and shoulder. Jack leaned forward to try to request removal from the cart and Carol offered him her hand to toy with to keep him calm.

Behind them, the second of Pru's offspring joined in the dismantling of the display. They were placing the items on the floor and, once they'd removed a few layers more, the whole display would topple over.

Pru smiled an insincere smile and shook her head.

"Oh we only do the socials for the new mothers," Pru said. "The young mothers."

"Seems to me it shouldn't matter what age a woman is," Daryl said.

"I mean to say for new mothers," Pru said. She shook her head again. "It wouldn't be proper. You've got so many children—Carol's hardly a new mother. It would be better if we weren't to draw too much attention to it. It might start something with everyone thinking they can have something for their third or fourth child..."

"Weren't it always you that said it was a shame she weren't no real mother?" Daryl asked.

Carol almost thanked the heavens that the display behind them finally gave way and crashed to the ground. Products went scattering off in all directions—rolling across the floor. One of Pru's children hit the ground, screaming in fear over the loud sound that the crash had made. June watched the whole thing her mouth wide, but Jack howled at the noise and Carol rescued her baby quickly from the cart.

The distraction was perfect to drag Daryl away because Pru's attention immediately shifted.

Deciding she'd buy just the one apple and forego any of the other produce she might want in order to make a grand escape, Carol practically dragged Daryl—cart and all—in the opposite direction through the store. She didn't stop until they were standing in front of the baker's racks and she was examining the bread there to decide what kind Daryl might like the best.

"She didn't never say a single nice thing," Daryl said.

"I'm sorry," Carol said. "That must be terribly frustrating for you."

"Are you sassin' me?" Daryl asked. There was some humor in his tone and Carol laughed to herself.

"Pru would rather walk on her lips across the parking lot in August than say something nice to me, Daryl," Carol said. "I'm sorry you lost out because of that."

"We're tellin' 'em at church," Daryl said.

"We will," Carol said. "But they'll all know by Sunday."

"I don't care," Daryl said. "We still gonna tell 'em. Every one of 'em. And you gettin' you one of them little church lady socials they do."

"Pru's right that I'm not a first time mother," Carol said.

"And?" Daryl asked. "Their excuse for not doin' one for you when we got Sophia was that she weren't no baby. Same for June. When we got Jack? What'd they say? They said he weren't small enough an' really these was for first time real mothers that was expectin' their babies. They're gonna do it or they're gonna make me raise hell in the home of the Lord," he warned.

Carol laughed to herself.

"Please don't make a scene, Daryl," Carol said. "But—we'll see if we can't get you a little more recognition before we go home. Let's go get those crackers before I have to face your pork chops. I'm going to eat them while we shop. That ought to raise plenty of opportunity for you to discuss our new little-one-to-be."

Daryl frowned at her.

"It was supposed to be about you," Daryl said. "Did I ruin it?"

Carol smiled at him. She leaned into him—proper or not, she didn't care—and pecked his lips.

"You couldn't ruin anything for me," Carol said. "I just love seeing you happy. Here...take Jack. And let's go find some crackers and scour the aisles. There are bound to be a few congratulations to dig up around here."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Here we are, another chapter here.**

 **I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Daryl sat patiently through the Sunday School lesson and did his best to pay attention. He held Carol's hand in his and, when he needed to stimulate himself to keep from dozing off, he toyed with her fingers and twisted her wedding band around and around on her finger.

Finally, marking the end of the class, Judy Rigors—who ran their Sunday School class – asked if there were any prayer requests. Whatever prayer requests they made would be added to the list, and Judy would pass the list to the pastor who would read them out to the congregation during the time which eh allotted for such things.

Daryl was one of those people—like many members of their congregation—who would often come to preaching because that was what was expected of him, but who skipped Sunday School as regularly as possible.

Today he was in Sunday School simply because he had some things to say that he needed to be certain were heard.

Daryl waited patiently while those who had prayer requests made them. When he was certain that there was nothing else that anybody wanted to add, and Judy had started to reach the part of her speech where Daryl thought she sounded like an auctioneer letting everyone know that the offer was about to be off the table, Daryl raised his hand and cleared his throat.

"Daryl?" Judy asked.

"Got a request," Daryl said.

Judy looked surprised, but she nodded at him and picked up the yellow pencil again so that she could scratch his request onto the paper below Hanna Cartwright's request that they all pray for the condition of her husband's knee. His knee hadn't changed in roughly forty years, but she added it to the list, like clockwork, every Sunday.

"What do you need prayer for?" Judy asked.

Carol squeezed Daryl's hand. He didn't look at her. She'd told more than a handful of people while they'd walked the halls, but this would be sure to get the news out.

"You prob'ly heard already," Daryl said. "But—my wife, Carol here, is expectin'."

Judy smiled at him.

"You mean you've decided to adopt again?" She asked.

She was one of the few that had neither spoken to Carol nor to Pru or any other church gossip. Daryl cleared his throat again and shook his head. He glanced at Carol. She was wearing a slight hint of a smile and she was staring at him expectantly. She was pushing him fully into center stage. It was clear that she had no intention to jump in with him.

"No," he said. "No. No. Not exactly. I mean—she's expectin'. Like—well, like you do when that's—when it's what you're doin'."

"Oh," Judy said. The word came out so short and crisp that Daryl thought it sounded like the most perfect representation of the letter that it possibly could. "I'm sorry—are things...not well?"

"They fine," Daryl said quickly. "Everything's fine. Just as it should be. But we'd like to be put on the prayer list so that people could pray that—things keep on as they are. Ya know? That—we have the blessings and all to which..." He stopped. He was always befuddled as to how to word things so that they would please the hens that spent most of their time judging people from the amen pew. "We want prayers that everything's gonna keep on the way it is. That we gonna—ya know—get us a strong and healthy addition to our family."

He'd heard more inane requests before, but Judy stared at him. He felt his jaw tense. He raised his hand and waved it at her to get her to come out of her stupor.

"Go ahead," he said. "Write that—just write that down."

"Oh," Judy repeated. "Oh—of course. Prayers for—for a healthy new arrival. That suit you fine, Daryl?"

"Suits me just fine," Daryl confirmed.

"Well—I think I speak for—for everyone here," Judy said, "when I say that—we'll certainly be praying for you. We'll be praying that—everything—is as you want it to be."

Daryl thanked her and Carol thanked her quietly. He noticed, with a prickle, that there was still no true show of congratulations offered to them. He decided to excuse it because of their surprise. Certainly they would all know to mind their manners whenever the shock wore off.

Daryl sat through the prayer—his own request added in there with the others—and held Carol's hand while he prayed for their child right along with the prayers for other things that meant relatively little to him. Still, he put effort into all of his prayers so that God—if such things mattered to him—wouldn't be offended by Daryl's lack of effort and decide to teach him some kind of lesson about the importance of sincerity in prayer. Normally he wouldn't mind risking it, but he didn't like the idea of risking anything when it might impact his family negatively.

When the prayers were done, and the class was dismissed, Daryl sent Carol on to get the little ones at the nursery. He assured her that he was coming—just as soon as he shared a few words with their classmates.

Carol accepted his dismissal, and she left to get Jack and June. Daryl sat in his metal folding chair and waited while the others left, too. He stayed right where he was until Judy was just about to turn off the lights—the prayer requests clasped tight in her hand.

She smiled at him. He didn't believe her smile for a moment.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asked.

Daryl finally stood up, but he stayed in his place so he could make it clear that he wasn't going anywhere until he'd said his peace.

"You who I talk to about gettin' one of them party things for Carol?" Daryl asked.

"Party things?" Judy asked.

"Cake squares," Daryl said. "Sweet tea—because lemonade with cake don't always make that much sense, don't you think? Coffee. Some of them—them finger sandwiches. I ain't been to one of them parties more than to drop Carol by one, but I want one for her. Everybody tellin' her how much she looks like a good new mother or whatever the hel..." Daryl stopped himself. "Whatever it is that you say at the parties. Where do I order her one?"

Judy laughed to herself.

"You don't order them," Judy said. "Socials are arranged by members of the church."

"You're a member," Daryl said. "An' her Sunday School teacher besides. Arrange one."

"It doesn't work like that," Judy said.

"You just said it did," Daryl said.

"The socials like that are for new mothers, Daryl," Judy said. "They're for—congratulating new mothers to help prepare them for their new arrivals. You understand."

Daryl clenched his teeth. He realized what he was doing and consciously made himself release his jaw.

"No," he said. "No—see that's the problem. I don't understand. Because—when Carol an' me got married—the church didn't offer us nothin'. But I see they have them parties for the new-to-be-married."

"Your marriage was..."

"Unconventional," Daryl interrupted. "Yeah. I heard it before. What that word means, though, is that'cha didn't like how it happened. I know. Believe me. I've heard the talk all over this town. But I sit in my pew on Sundays an' I keep my mouth shut. Then when we brought Sophia home, there weren't no cake an' no finger sandwiches. Couldn't hardly get nobody to look in our direction for a good six months."

"That situation..."

"Was messy," Daryl said. "Heard that, too. Mattered that she was borned out of wedlock. Didn't seem to matter that we brought her into a lovin' home an' a happy marriage—somethin' that half the congregation can't swear to have. We brought June home an' you said she was too old for somethin' like that. By the time we brung Jack home, you said we had too many kids and, besides, it weren't the same as bein' no real Ma. I've heard every excuse you got. This baby's comin' in the most traditional way that babies can come. Created outta nothin' but the purest dam..." Daryl stopped. "Outta the purest love that I believe can exist outside a' somethin' just straight for Sunday School. If you believe what'cha preach—then it's a baby made outta love that was blessed by God himself. What more you want?"

Judy laughed nervously.

"It's just that..."

"That you too judgmental," Daryl said. "You too judgmental on me an' you too judgmental on Carol. You hold a mistake she made forever ago against her. A mistake that—it was a mistake, honest and true—but she made it outta thinkin' she was in love an' was gonna be his lawful and holy wife. But 'cause her shame was public, you hold it against her. You hold against the both of us that you think it was improper how we got married. You think I took advantage of her. The whole town does. An' maybe I did. But that's—that's my shame. That's somethin' I gotta pray for on my knees at night—and I do. Because if I took advantage of her—if I hurt her—I wanna know I'ma pay for it. But it's gotta be me that pays for it. Not her. She's paid enough. An' you ain't my judge."

Judy had lost every ounce of color in her face—at least every ounce of natural color. The rouge on her cheeks was that much more dramatic with the blood drained out of her face.

"I—I—" she stammered.

Daryl shook his head.

"I didn't wanna fight," he said. "Didn't come for that. I just came to ask—how I get her one of them parties. If I was her, I wouldn't care about a single one of you. Not one bit. But she does. She just wants—to feel accepted. So who I gotta talk about to get some cake an' finger sandwiches an' everybody to tell her—whatever it is you're supposed to tell her?"

Judy shook her head.

"It's just that—it isn't proper," Judy said.

Daryl swallowed. He almost felt like his insides had liquidated and that liquid had begun to boil. He nodded his head.

"That's fine," he said. "But it ain't proper that you stand up here an' teach Sunday School every Sunday when you claim to be a happily married woman but I know you runnin' around on your husband with Leonard Green. Except I also know that Velma Green sits in here every Sunday an' thinks you're just the sweetest 'cause she don't know what'cha doin' with Leonard. He don't tell her he's got a mistress, neither, 'cause that would ruin his reputation as a deacon. Wouldn't it? And I know that sweet lil' Georgia Bigsby—everybody's talkin' about when she finally gets married. But she's been out late at Fuller's Millpond with that Wingate boy many a night. And I know that—I know that Margaret Rollins that sits in here an' sings in the choir—gets all them mentions for bein' such a good service member to the community an' all—she's such a lush that she spends more time on the bottle than Jack does an' he can't hardly stomach solid food."

"Daryl—I—" Judy stammered. It was clear that she meant to deny the accusations, but she couldn't. Daryl put his hand up to stop her and shook his head.

"Y'all think 'cause I don't run my mouth, that means that I don't hear an' see real good. I hear an' see better'n most of you. Now—my point is that we all got somethin' we ain't proud of. You ain't doin' her no favors by holdin' against Carol somethin' that she's had to carry, publicly even, for a long time. It's heavy enough without you addin' to the load. I ain't tellin' your secret 'cause it ain't mine to tell. At least—not if you don't make me go down there an' walk away the down to the front of the aisle when it's time for the callin' an' let the pastor know I got a few words to say."

"Daryl..." Judy stammered. It was clear that she was barely breathing. She couldn't speak because she couldn't get oxygen into her system at the rate she was going.

"I ain't askin' for nothin' but—a little forgiveness," Daryl said. "What the hel..." he stopped. "What you preach every Sunday. You don't think that's fair? Forgive in the name of the Lord? Ain't that what every sinner wants? A lil' forgiveness?"

Judy nodded her head.

"Forgiveness," Judy said.

"And not to have people pointin' out their sins—you think?" Daryl asked. "Keep 'em private? Let each individual deal with their sins?"

Judy nodded.

"Sins are—individual."

Daryl smiled to himself.

"And foldin' chairs," Daryl said. "Them paper table cloths. A lil' gift or two for a new baby—things that she oughta have. Cake an' coffee an'—an' finger sandwiches. Don't sound like too much to ask, do it?"

Judy swallowed. Her face fell, but she shook her head.

"It doesn't sound like too much at all," she ceded.


End file.
